GIFT  OF 


THE   NEW  APPRECIATION   OF 
THE   BIBLE 


The  New  Appreciation 
of  the  Bible 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  OUTCOME  OF 
BIBLICAL  CRITICISM 


By 
WILLARD  CHAMBERLAIN  SELLECK,  D.D. 

Author  of  The  Spiritual  Outlook:  A  Survey  of  the 

Religious  Life  of  Our  Time  as  Related 

to  Progress 


a 


■>   j  ' )  i  i  Jj 


CHICAGO 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 

1907 


s* 

$* 


Copyright  1906  By 
The  University  of  Chicago 


Published  January  1907 
Second  Impression  March  1907 


Composed  and  Printed  By 

The  University  of  Chicago  Press 

Chicago,  Illinois,  U.  S.  A. 


XTo  /!>£  mite 

COMPANION  OF  MY  AFFECTIONS  AND  JOYS 

SHARER  OF  MY  STRUGGLES  AND  HOPES 

THE   KINDEST  AND  BEST  OF  ALL  MY  CRITICS 

IN  WHOSE  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER 

SIMPLE,   UNSELFISH,   AND  SINCERE 

E  SPIRIT  OF  THE  MASTER^  TEACHING  HAS  BI 

BEAUTIFULLY  REFLECTED 

f  f  nscrfbe  Gbte  IPolume 

WITH  GRATEFUL  AND  TENDER  FEELINGS 


242887 


PREFACE 

The  author's  aim  has  been  to  prepare  a  man- 
ual that  might  be  distinctly  helpful  to  those  who 
desire  to  appropriate  the  best  results  of  modern 
biblical  scholarship.  He  has  had  in  mind  the  needs 
of  pastors,  teachers,  young  people's  classes  and 
societies  in  the  churches,  parents,  and  thought- 
ful persons  generally  who  really  want  to  know 
the  truth,  but  who  want  also  a  justly  construct- 
ive interpretation  and  application  of  the  truth. 
He  believes  thoroughly  that  the  new  view  of  the 
Bible  is  far  more  vital  than  the  old;  that  there 
is  no  valid  cause  for  alarm  lest  the  essentials 
of  spiritual  religion  suffer  shock,  through  the 
acceptance  of  this  view,  provided  the  people  are 
adequately  informed  and  wisely  led;  but  that,  on 
the  contrary,  it  may  be  made  to  promote  a 
great  enlightenment  and  enrichment  of  popular 
faith  and  devotion,  if  only  those  who  are  re- 
sponsible for  the  instruction  of  the  masses  shall 
conscientiously  do  their  duty.  He  holds,  there- 
fore, that  the  imperative  need  of  the  hour  is  in- 
telligent, sympathetic,  and  frank  explanation 
and  guidance  with  reference  to  the  manifold 
interests  involved  in  this  whole  subject. 

The  religious  use  of  the  Bible  must  always 
be  its  principal  use.  The  value  it  possesses  for 
the  linguist,  the  archaeologist,  and  the  historian, 


viil  PREFACE 

great  as  this  has  been  and  will  continue  to 
be,  can  never  equal  the  worth  of  its  service  to 
the  spiritual  life  of  mankind.  People  may  read 
it  for  literary  profit,  and  may  study  it  for  the 
sake  of  knowledge  and  culture;  but  all  this  will 
be  as  nothing  beside  the  counsel,  comfort,  in- 
spiration, correction,  and  direction  which  it  will 
afford  for  moral  conduct  and  religious  trust. 
But  this  most  important  use  of  the  Bible  must 
be  consonant  with  the  truth  about  its  nature; 
and  the  more  vital  its  hold  upon  the  hearts  of 
men,  the  more  powerful  its  influence  in  prac- 
tical life,  the  more  needful  it  must  be  that  its 
real  character  should  be  clearly  understood. 
Accordingly  the  common  people,  who  are  fed 
by  the  Bible  and  are  exhorted  to  use  it  dili- 
gently in  religious  ways,  are  entitled  to  know, 
so  far  as  possible,  what  the  scholars  have  learned 
respecting  its  actual  origin  and  history.  To 
withhold  such  information  will  not  only  deprive 
them  of  an  education  to  which  they  have  a  just 
claim,  but  will  be  sure  to  beget  distrust  and  indif- 
ference. 

Now  a  part  of  the  work  of  furnishing  this 
needed  popular  instruction  is  to  be  done  by  the 
biblical  professor,  but  perhaps  an  equally  im- 
portant part  is  to  be  done  by  the  enlightened 
pastor.  He  stands  close  to  the  ordinary  people; 
he  knows  the  state  of  their  minds,  he  can  sym- 
pathize with  their  perplexities  and  misgivings, 


PREFACE  ix 

and  therefore  he  can  break  the  bread  of  truth 
to  them  according  to  their  needs.  Himself 
learning  from  the  experts  or  the  teachers  in  the 
universities,  he  can  in  turn  teach  the  members 
of  his  congregation  who  look  to  him  for  leader- 
ship in  spiritual  things;  and  thus  he  may  be  the 
mediator  of  a  new  understanding  between  the 
Divine  Spirit  and  those  yearning  souls  that  wait 
for  illumination  "more  than  they  that  watch  for 
the  morning." 

The  point  of  view  here  indicated  is  the  one 
from  which  the  present  volume  is  offered.  It 
will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  the  book  is  not  in- 
tended for  scholars,  but  is  rather  a  modest  at- 
tempt by  a  working  pastor  to  popularize  some 
of  the  results  of  scholarship.  It  seeks  to  give 
the  general  reader  a  clear  and  trustworthy 
account  of  the  changed  view  of  the  Bible  which 
is  growing  up  in  these  days,  and  to  show  him 
that  this  view  does  not  weaken  the  hold  of  the 
Scriptures  upon  our  esteem,  but  instead  truly 
strengthens  it,  while  tending  positively  to  spir- 
itualize and  vitalize  our  religion.  Even  more 
earnestly  does  it  strive  to  set  forth  the  great 
educational  value  of  the  Bible  in  our  modern 
life,  as  it  acts  upon  the  heart  of  our  civilization, 
and  to  point  out  the  ways  in  which  it  may  be 
most  helpfully  used,  in  its  new  aspects,  in  order 
to  render  its  vast  service  of  good  to  the  individ- 
ual and  to  society. 


x  PREFACE 

Of  course  the  author  does  not  presume  to 
speak  for  any  particular  scholar,  except  as  in- 
dicated by  quotation  or  reference.  The  facts 
herein  set  forth  are  such  as  he  has  gleaned  in  his 
professional  study,  and  he  alone  is  responsible 
for  the  form  in  which  he  has  stated  them ;  but  he 
trusts  he  has  not  misrepresented,  in  any  essen- 
tial respect,  the  position  of  modern  learning  in 
relation  thereto.  As  to  the  convictions  which 
he  has  expressed  regarding  the  nature  and  work- 
ings of  religion,  most  fully  contained  in  the 
sixth,  seventh,  and  eighth  chapters  of  the  first 
part,  they  are  emphatically  his  own,  although  the 
influence  of  many  teachers  has  combined  with 
his  own  thought  and  experience  to  produce  them. 

The  writer   fervently  hopes  that  a   sympa- 
thetic reading  of  these  pages  will  yield  the  net 
result  of  a  quickened  apprehension  of  spiritual 
truth.     Believing  profoundly  in  the  immanence 
of  the  Divine  Spirit,  of  whose  active  presence  in 
our  human  world  the  Bible  is  a  great  monu- 
ment, he  believes  that  a  truer  knowledge  of  the 
Bible  must  always  make  men  more  clearly  aware 
of  the  reality  and  the  immediateness  of  the  spir- 
itual forces  that  fill  the  universe,  thereby  bring- 
ing them  into  a  deeper  conscious  harmony  with 
That    God   which    ever   lives    and   loves, 
One   God,   one   law,   one   element, 
And  one   far-off  divine  event, 
To   which   the   whole   creation   moves. 

Providence,  R.  I.  W.  C.  S. 

February  i,  1906 


PREFACE  XI 

POSTSCRIPT 

The  author's  indebtedness  to  various  writers 
is  perhaps  sufficiently  indicated  by  the  quota- 
tions and  references  in  the  text  and  the  foot- 
notes. But  he  desires  especially  to  acknowl- 
edge his  obligation  to  one  of  the  professors  in 
the  University  of  Chicago,  who,  after  reading 
the  manuscript  for  the  press,  kindly  submitted 
many  sympathetic  and  helpful  criticisms.  The 
corrections  and  suggestions  thus  recommended 
have  been  substantially  incorporated  in  the  final 
revision  of  the  work,  much  enhancing  its  value. 

The  book  has  been  produced  amid  the  mul- 
tifarious duties  of  a  double  pastorate,  involving 
the  constant  care  of  a  city  church  and  a  sub- 
urban village  church,  not  to  speak  of  many 
other  semi-public  services.  On  the  score  of  this 
fact  some  allowance  may  be  made  for  the  lack 
of  literary  finish  and  technical  soundness  which 
the  critical  reader  will  undoubtedly  discover. 
It  is  hoped  that  such  defects  will  not  be  so  great 
as  seriously  to  impair  the  practical  usefulness  of 
the  volume. 

w.  c.  s. 


CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION 

The  Bible  in  Modern  Life i 

PART  I.    THE  MEANING  OF  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM 
I.    The  History  of  the  Bible,  Since  the  Com- 
pletion of  the  Canons  of  the  Two 

Testaments 19 

II.    The  Traditional  View  of  the  Bible  ...  47 

III.  What  is  Biblical  Criticism  ? 68 

IV.  The  New  View  of  the  Old  Testament  .     .  95 
V.    The  NeW  View  of  the  New  Testament  .     .120 

VI.    The  Inspiration  of  the  Bible     ....  156 

VII.    The  Divine  Revelation  in  the  Bible    .     .  180 
VIII.    The  Moral  and  Religious  Authority  of 

the  Bible 202 

PART  II.    THE  VALUE  AND  USE  OF  THE  BIBLE 

IX.    The  New  Appreciation  of  the  Bible  .     .227 

X.    The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Progress    .     .  247 
XL    The  Service  of  the  Bible  to  Our  Own 

Time 265 

XII.    How  to  Read  the  Bible  in  Its  Modern 

Aspects 284 

XIII.  The  Use  and  Abuse  of  the  Bible  in  the 

Sunday   School 301 

XIV.  The  Bible  in  the  Public  School    .     .     .  324 
XV.    The  Bible  in  the  Home 348 

XVI.    The  Bible  and  Personal  Culture    .     .     .  364 
XVII.    The  Bible  and  the  Spread  of  Western 

Civilization       380 


•      INTRODUCTION 
THE  BIBLE  IN  MODERN  LIFE 


INTRODUCTION 

THE  BIBLE  IN  MODERN  LIFE 

The  place  which  the  Bible  already  fills  in 
modern  life  is  so  large  and  honorable  as  to  en- 
title it  to  the  profound  respect  of  all  intelligent 
people.  The  still  larger  place  which  it  is  both 
worthy  and  certain  to  occupy  in  the  future  de- 
velopment of  our  civilization  renders  exceedingly 
important  a  most  thorough  consideration  of 
every  vital  question  connected  with  its  nature 
and  influence.  It  is  impossible  to  understand 
the  history  of  this  civilization  without  knowing 
how  the  teachings  of  the  Bible  have  been 
wrought,  like  a  beautiful  pattern,  into  its  very 
warp  and  woof.  It  is  likewise  impossible  to 
think  of  this  civilization  extending  itself  among 
the  nations,  in  the  immediate  future,  without  in- 
volving these  same  teachings.  Therefore  it  is  not 
merely  in  a  narrow,  personal  way,  as  concern- 
ing the  religious  interests  of  the  individual,  but 
rather  in  a  very  broad  way,  as  flowing  with  the 
whole  stream  of  our  western  civilization,  now 
spreading  over  the  earth,  that  we  are  adequately 
to  measure  the  significance  of  the  Bible  in 
modern  life.  A  few  considerations  will  enforce 
this  truth. 

i.  Beginning  with  ourselves,  we  perceive  at 
once  that  our  private  spiritual  ideals,  our  ethi- 

3 


\  NSW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

cal  principles,  our  religious  faith  and  devotion, 
and  our  hopes  for  the  hereafter  have  been  largely 
shaped  by  the  ideas  and  influences  emanating 
from  this  sacred  volume.  One  may  not  claim 
that  they  have  been  produced  thereby,  for  spir- 
itual aspiration,  the  moral  sense,  and  the  reli- 
gious sentiment  are  afforded  by  the  nature  of  man, 
are  instinctive  and  ineradicable;  but  it  is  a  fact 
that  they  have  taken  form  and  direction,  as  they 
exist  among  us,  from  the  molding  hand  which 
the  Bible  has  laid  upon  our  souls.  For  every 
man  shares,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  in  the 
heritage  of  the  past.  Now  our  entire  western 
civilization,  which  is  comparatively  of  recent 
origin,  has  grown  up  in  the  closest  connection 
with  those  agencies  and  forces  which  the  Bible 
has  fostered  and  transmitted,  so  that  our  an- 
cestors, for  hundreds  of  years,  as  well  as  we 
ourselves,  have  been  educated  in  its  conceptions 
and  spirit:  consequently  the  impression  which  it 
has  made  upon  our  habits  of  thought  and  feel- 
ing, upon  conduct  and  character,  is  as  deep,  vital, 
and  permanent  as  that  which  is  produced  upon  a 
race  by  climate  or  long-established  national  gov- 
ernment. Thus  the  influence  of  the  Bible  is  felt 
in  our  lives,  both  directly  and  indirectly,  to  a 
greater  extent  than  the  unreflecting  are  aware. 
When  we  think  of  it,  however,  we  see  that  it 
would  be  about  as  difficult  to  free  ourselves  from 
its  effectual  sway  as  to  take  the  texture  out  of 


INTRODUCTION  5 

a  garment;  and  even  if  we  possessed  the  desire 
and  the  ability  to  do  this,  it  is  quite  as  difficult 
to  imagine  what  should  or  could  be  put  in  its 
place.  No  wonder  we  call  the  book  sacred!  for 
all  our  most  sacred  interests,  whether  drawn 
from  the  past  or  subsisting  in  the  present  or  per- 
taining to  the  future,  are  bound  up  with  its  life- 
giving  teachings.  It  is  the  light,  the  inspirer, 
and  the  eomforter  of  our  needy  souls  as  nothing 
else  on  earth  has  ever  been.  Intelligently  cher- 
ished, it  is  simply  an  inestimable  means  of  spir- 
itual grace  and  power,  working  silently,  day  by 
day,  like  the  sunshine,  to  enrich  and  beautify  our 
lives. 

2.  Similarly  the  Bible  has  entered  into  mod- 
ern literature  in  penetrating  and  thorough  ways. 
Hosts  of  the  greatest  writers  of  the  last  thou- 
sand years  have  fed  upon  the  Bible  as  upon  no 
other  work.  Innumerable  are  the  allusions  to  it, 
the  quotations  from  it,  and  the  illustrations 
afforded  by  it  in  the  literary  productions  of 
European  and  American  authors.1  How  futile, 
then,  to  expect  to  understand  these  authors  with- 

1  The  late  Mr.  Charles  Dudley  Warner,  shortly  before  his 
death,  wrote  touching  this  point  as  follows:  "Wholly  apart  from 
its  religious  or  from  its  ethical  value,  the  Bible  is  the  one  book 
that  no  intelligent  person  who  wishes  to  come  into  contact  with 
the  world  of  thought  and  to  share  the  ideas  of  the  great  minds 
of  the  Christian  era  can  afford  to  be  ignorant  of.  All  modern 
literature  and  all  art  are  permeated  with  it.  There  is  scarcely 
a  great  work  m  the  language  that  can  be  fully  understood  and 
enjoyed  without  this  knowledge,  so  full  is  it  of  allusions  and  illus- 
trations from  the  Bible.  This  is  true  of  fiction,  of  poetry,  of  eco- 
nomic and   philosophic   works,   and   also   of   the   scientific   and   even 


6  NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

out  some  familiarity  with  the  Bible!  In  nearly 
all  our  best  literary  possessions  originating  in 
recent  centuries  the  facts,  thoughts,  and  lessons 
of  the  Bible  are  reflected  here  and  there  on  every 
hand;  and  its  general  spirit  is  undoubtedly  the 
most  pervasive  quality  in  the  moral  and  intellec- 
tual atmosphere  of  our  time.  Hence,  if  we  de- 
sire to  interpret  correctly  the  literary  history  of 
modern  times,  thus  comprehending  the  inner 
workings  of  the  human  spirit  lying  behind  our 
whole  occidental  civilization,  we  shall  find  it 
needful  to  put  ourselves  at  the  point  of  view  occu- 
pied by  so  many  writers  through  an  enlightened 
appreciation  of  the  Bible. 

3.  Again,  consider  how  our  institutional  life 
recognizes  and  employs  the  Bible.  Not  only  our 
churches  with  their  assemblages  and  their  cere- 
monies of  worship,  not  only  our  marriage  and 
funeral  customs,  but  also  most  of  our  philan- 
thropic agencies,  many  of  our  schools  and  col- 
leges, and  some  of  our  civil  laws  and  judicial 
proceedings  have  been  fashioned  and  subserved, 
in  no  small  degree,  by  these  ancient  Scriptures.  It 
is  not  contended  that  such  social  institutions  owe 
their  existence  primarily  to  the  Bible,  for  they 

agnostic  treatises.  It  is  not  at  all  a  question  of  religion,  or  the- 
ology, or  of  dogma;  it  is  a  question  of  general  intelligence." 

Emerson,  too,  wrote:  "Shakespeare,  the  first  literary  genius 
of  the  world,  the  highest  in  whom  the  moral  is  not  the  predominat- 
ing element,  leans  on  the  Bible;  his  poetry  presupposes  it.  If  we 
examine  this  brilliant  influence — Shakespeare — as  it  lies  in  our 
mind,  we  shall  find  it  reverent,  not  only  of  the  letter  of  this  book, 
but  of  the  whole  frame  of  society  which  stood  in  Europe  upon  it." 


INTRODUCTION  7 

spring  out  of  native  instincts  and  tendencies,  and 
there  would  be  something  like  them  even  if 
there  had  never  been  any  Bible ;  but  the  point  is, 
that  the  Bible  has  had  actually  to  do  with  their 
development,  and  so  exerts  its  power  through 
their  far-reaching  influence. 

But  the  chief  fact  to  be  noted  here  is  that  the 
Bible  is  the  specific  and  main  instrument  of  all 
our  distinctively  religious  institutions.  What  a 
striking  phenomenon  it  is  that  every  Christian 
church,  every  Young  Men's  or  Young  Women's 
Christian  Association,  and  every  Sunday  school 
makes  use  of  some  portion  of  this  book  as  the 
principal  implement  of  spiritual  culture!  It  is 
the  sword  of  the  Spirit  wielded  by  the  armies  of 
the  Lord — the  one  mighty  weapon  of  offense  and 
defense,  to  assail  the  works  of  ignorance  and 
sin,  and  to  keep  every  warrior's  heart  incorrupt- 
ible and  undefiled.  It  is  the  one  great  textbook 
of  righteousness  and  holy  love  used  throughout 
our  western  world  for  the  education  of  old  and 
young  in  the  highest  and  most  vital  things  in 
human  life.  No  other  tool  ever  had  such  honor, 
or  wrought  upon  so  gigantic  a  task,  or  accom- 
plished such  wonderfuljresults.  It  is  unique  and  z?.~&** 
marvelous  as  an  instrumentality  for  the  main- 
tenance of  all  that  is  best  in  our  modern  civili- 
zation. 

4.  Furthermore,  it  must  be  observed  that  the 
Bible  is  now  being  rapidly  distributed  over  the 


8  NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

earth.  The  vast  missionary  enterprises  of  the 
various  churches,  springing  up  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  have  been  inaugurated  in  nearly  all 
lands,  among  hundreds  of  millions  of  people 
who,  a  short  time  ago,  knew  nothing  of  Judaism 
and  Christianity.  Invariably  the  Bible  has  ac- 
companied these  enterprises,  without  which  they 
had  never  been  undertaken,  and  by  virtue  of 
which  they  have  constantly  subsisted.  As  a  con- 
sequence of  this  Christian  expansion,  aided  by 
the  growth  of  learning  and  by  other  important 
factors,  the  Scriptures  have  now  attained  a  cir- 
culation among  the  races  and  languages  of  the 
globe  far  surpassing  that  of  any  other  collection 
of  writings.  Last  year,  for  instance,  the  circu- 
lation of  the  American  Bible  Society  alone 
amounted  to  1,723,791  copies,  and  during  the 
eighty-six  years  of  its  organization  amounted 
to  70,677,225;  while  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society  reported  a  circulation  last  year  of 
5,067,421  copies,  and  a  total  since  the  founda- 
tion of  the  society  of  175,038,965.  There  are 
other  societies  engaged  in  distributing  the  Bible, 
but  I  am  unable  to  give  their  figures;  and  while 
it  is  impossible  to  make  any  accurate  estimate  of 
the  total  circulation  throughout  the  world,  a 
trustworthy  authority  says  it  would  probably 
reach  500,000,000.  This  means  that  the  Bible 
has  been  translated  into  many  languages  and  dia- 
lects— over  300 — and  that  the  demand  for  it  is 


INTRODUCTION  9 

steadily  increasing.  Surely,  if  the  Bible  conveys 
to  mankind  a  knowledge  of  God,  it  is  not  diffi- 
cult to  believe  in  the  ultimate  fulfilment  of  the 
old  Hebrew  prophecy — "the  earth  shall  be  full 
of  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  as  the  waters 
cover  the  sea."2 

Seeing  thus  the  remarkable  place  which  the 
Bible  occupies  in  modern  life,  and  which  it  is 
destined  to  enlarge,  the  highest  significance  at 
once  attaches  to  the  fact  that  the  general  vieiv 
of  the  Bible  hitherto  prevailing  is  undergoing  a 
great  change  in  these  days.  The  recent  vast  ex- 
pansion of  learning,  and  the  many  searching  cor- 
rections effected  by  it,  constitute  one  of  the  most 
notable  achievements  of  our  civilization.  Few 
subjects  have  been  affected  by  the  twofold  pro- 
cess more  thoroughly  and  helpfully  than  the 
Bible.  Light  from  various  quarters  has  been 
thrown  upon  its  pages,  researches  in  the  ancient 
lands  connected  with  its  origin  have  been  made, 
and  studies  in  the  historic  circumstances  attend- 
ing its  production  and  transmission  have  been 
patiently  prosecuted,  all  contributing  to  render 
the  Bible  a  much  richer  book  for  us  than  it  could 
possibly  have  been  for  our  forefathers.  But  it 
is  also  a  different  book,  in  the  sense  of  bearing 
a  different  nature.  It  is  no  longer  regarded  in 
so  narrow  and  mechanical  a  way  as  formerly; 
it  is  less  a  mysterious  oracle,  and  more  a  living 

*  Isa.  xi.  9. 


io         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

voice;  and  if  we  use  it  less  as  a  talisman  or 
shibboleth,  we  feel  it  more  as  a  throbbing  en- 
ergy in  the  struggling  life  of  our  time.  We 
do  not  think  of  it  as  having  been  written  by  the 
Almighty,  or  by  angels,  or  by  infallible  human 
amanuenses;  but  rather  as  having  grown  out  of 
the  personal  and  national  experiences  of  a  peo- 
ple who  were  wonderfully  fitted  by  racial  en- 
dowment and  by  a  long,  peculiar  discipline  to 
feel  and  express  profound  moral  and  religious 
truths.  The  steps  by  which  it  came  into  exist- 
ence can  be  traced  to  a  great  extent,  the  stages 
of  its  development  can  be  marked  off  with  ap- 
proximate accuracy;  and  we  see  that  whatever 
divine  element  is  involved  in  its  creation  is  just 
such  as  we  ourselves  may  know  something  about 
in  our  purest  spiritual  consciousness — the  pres- 
ence and  power  of  the  spirit  of  God  working  in 
and  through  the  spirit  of  man  "both  to  will  and 
to  do  of  his  good  pleasure."  So  the  marvelous 
in  the  sense  of  the  miraculous  diminishes,  and 
the  marvelous  in  the  sense  of  the  natural  in- 
creases. 

This  fundamental  change  in  our  general  con- 
ception of  the  Bible  will  be  elucidated  and  am- 
plified. Here  let  me  simply  remark  that  the 
facts  and  truths  involved  in  it  are  embraced 
in  what  is  called  the  science  of  historical  and 
literary  criticism,  and  more  particularly  in  the 
branch  of  this  science  known  as  biblical  criti- 


INTRODUCTION  II 

cism.  This  new  science,  which  is  giving  us 
largely  a  new  Bible,  is  creating  a  new  interest 
among  intelligent  people  in  the  study  of  the  pre- 
cious volume;  and  I  venture  to  hope  that  we  are 
on  the  eve  of  a  better  and  more  diligent  use  of 
these  sacred  writings  for  vital  purposes  than  has 
yet  prevailed.  To  those  who  have  eyes  to  see 
the  trend  of  spiritual  events,  the  inevitable  im- 
provement that  must  ensue  from  such  enlight- 
ening and  vivifying  influences  is  indeed  a  glad- 
dening vision.  Therefore  they  welcome  this 
modern  science  of  biblical  criticism  as  a  radiant, 
beautiful  benefactress,  like  so  many  of  her  pre- 
decessors in  the  sisterhood  of  sciences,  and  re- 
joice to  receive  her  blessing. 

We  are  bound,  however,  to  recognize  the 
prevalence  of  a  contrary  judgment.  There  are 
those  who  are  hostile  to  this  science,  deeming 
it  a  source  of  great  evil.  They  hold  it  respon- 
sible for  disturbing  the  faith  of  earnest  Chris- 
tians, for  undermining  the  foundations  of  reli- 
gious institutions,  for  depleting  the  churches,  and 
for  setting  people  adrift  upon  a  sea  of  uncer- 
tainty, skepticism,  and  secularism.  Nor  can  we 
deny  that  there  is  some  truth  in  these  allega- 
tions. Every  great  change  in  religious  thought 
produces,  inevitably,  important  personal  and 
social  consequences.  To  alter  men's  ruling  ideas 
about  the  Bible,  or  the  Church,  or  Jesus  Christ, 
or  God,  or  human  destiny  must  affect  their  prac- 


12         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

tical  attitude  toward  all  Christian  interests. 
And  undoubtedly  the  manifold  changes  now 
occurring  in  popular  thought  are  having  a  con- 
siderable influence  upon  the  conduct  of  large 
numbers  of  men  and  women  with  reference  to 
public  worship,  the  observance  of  Sunday,  the 
reading  of  the  Scriptures,  and  religious  matters 
in  general. 

But  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  these 
changes  are  due  solely  or  chiefly  to  biblical  cri- 
ticism; that  is  only  one  of  the  causes.  They  be- 
long to  the  whole  intellectual  and  spiritual  move- 
ment of  the  age;  all  the  other  sciences  have  con- 
tributed to  them;  the  general  progress  of  civili- 
zation lies  behind  them  and  is  implicated  in 
them.  It  is  likewise  a  mistake  to  suppose  that 
their  influence  is,  on  the  whole,  baneful.  It  is 
no  more  so  than  that  of  all  knowledge,  freedom, 
and  growth.  There  are  incidental  losses  in 
every  form  of  human  advancement — from  child- 
hood to  manhood,  from  dependence  to  self-re- 
liance, from  simplicity  to  complexity  of  social 
life;  but  these  are  more  than  offset  by  the  gains 
which  a  natural  development  yields.  If  the 
world  is  now  learning  that  some  of  its  former 
conceptions  of  divine  processes  have  been  par- 
tially false  because  imperfect  and  narrow,  and  is 
therefore  rectifying  them,  there  will  be,  indeed, 
some  evil  results;  but  these  will  be  more  than 
counterbalanced  by  the  immense  benefits  which 


INTRODUCTION  13 

must  eventually  issue.  At  any  rate,  the  process 
is  going  on,  we  cannot  stop  it,  and  we  must  pre- 
pare to  accept  the  consequences,  whatever  they 
may  be.  It  is  pleasant  to  be  able  to  believe  that, 
in  the  main,  they  are  sure  to  be  good. 

There  is  another  serious  aspect  of  this  sub- 
ject. The  friends  of  Christianity  who  are  mis- 
takenly opposing  biblical  criticism  are  certain  to 
alienate  many  thinking  persons  from  the 
churches.  This  has  been  done  already  to  a  sad 
extent.  There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that 
many  bright  young  people,  educated  in  our  in- 
stitutions of  learning,  are  turning  away  from  the 
churches  today  because  of  their  intellectual  in- 
hospitality.  Instead  of  finding  them  leaders  of 
thought,  they  find  them,  too  often,  reluctant  fol- 
lowers. Instead  of  seeing  them  expecting  more 
light  to  break  forth,  more  truth  to  be  discovered, 
they  behold  them  clinging  to  a  revelation  that  is 
finished.  Instead  of  being  encouraged  by  them, 
as  they  are  encouraged  at  college,  to  think,  to 
examine,  to  investigate,  and  to  explore  with  per- 
fect fearlessness,  and  to  welcome  the  established 
conclusions  of  scientific  study,  they  are  fre- 
quently warned  against  all  this,  and  they  hear 
unfavorable  judgments  pronounced  upon  the 
work  of  some  of  the  world's  greatest  scholars. 
Thus,  instead  of  being  fellow-helpers  to  the 
truth,  the  churches  often  become  a  hindrance  to 
its  attainment.     Manifestly  this  is  very  unfor- 


14         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

tunate;  and  the  churches  are  the  principal  suffer- 
ers. For  no  worse  calamity  could  befall  the 
Christian  churches  in  our  day  than  to  lose  the 
support  of  the  thinking  classes.  And  they  will 
lose  it,  more  or  less,  if  this  policy  be  continued. 
The  hope  that  it  will  not  be  continued  lies  in 
the  fact  that,  as  a  rule,  highly  educated  men  are 
increasingly  demanded  for  the  Christian  min- 
istry. Let  the  demand  be  insisted  upon,  and  let 
the  ministers,  after  they  get  into  their  pulpits, 
have  as  much  confidence  in  the  Spirit  of  Truth 
as  they  had  while  in  the  university.  The  Mas- 
ter promised  that  that  Spirit  should  lead  his  dis- 
ciples into  all  truth.  Let  them  follow  such  a 
divine  leadership,  encourage  their  hearers  to  do 
likewise,  prepare  them  to  look  for  fresh  dis- 
closures of  God's  secrets,  and  honor  all  who  in 
any  way  are  seeking  to  discover  them.  So  shall 
they  help  to  make  the  Christian  Church  the 
staunch  ally  of  all  sound  learning,  and  thereby 
save  to  her  service  the  lovers  of  truth  and  prog- 
ress. 

I  believe,  then,  that  the  gravest  danger  to  be 
feared  from  biblical  criticism  today  is,  not  that 
the  acceptance  of  its  teachings  will  undermine 
the  faith  of  devout  souls,  but  that  the  rejection 
of  its  well-established  results,  together  with  an 
attitude  of  unfriendliness  toward  all  its  work, 
will  do  the  Christian  Church  incalculable  harm 
through    the    alienation    of    vast    numbers    of 


INTRODUCTION  15 

thoughtful,  inquiring  people.  So  believing,  I 
desire,  as  a  reverent  and  glad  disciple  of  Jesus 
Christ,  to  do  what  I  can  to  avert  this  danger 
from  the  great  institution  which  serves  the  world 
in  his  name.  Accordingly,  with  such  ability  as 
is  at  my  disposal,  I  have  undertaken  a  candid  dis- 
cussion of  the  matters  here  broached,  in  the  firm 
conviction  that  the  facts  and  truths  which  the 
scholars  have  brought  to  light,  not  only  do  not 
invalidate  the  most  spiritual  faith  in  the  Bible 
and  in  Jesus  Christ,  but  on  the  contrary  greatly 
enhance  such  a  faith.  By  showing  how  this  is 
true,  comprehensively  and  yet  with  some  detail, 
and  by  such  a  course  alone,  can  "the  present  dis- 
tress" which  Professor  McFadyen  3  depicts  be  ad- 
equately relieved;  only  so  can  the  churches 
again  be  duly  enriched  by  the  fruits  of  the  new 
learning,  and  become  thoroughly  equipped  for 
the  stupendous  tasks  of  a  new  age;  and  only  so 
can  we  expect  our  historic  religion  to  have  its 
full  share  in  the  supreme  work  of  spiritualizing 
our  modern  civilization. 

8  See  John  Edgar  McFadyen,  Old  Testament  Criticism  and  the 
Christian  Church   (Scribner,   1903),  chap.  i. 


PART  I 

THE  MEANING  OF  BIBLICAL 
CRITICISM 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

In  the  present  chapter  a  sketch  is  to  be 
given  of  the  history  of  the  Bible.  There  is  re- 
quired at  least  an  outline  of  the  story  of  its  pres- 
ervation, transmission,  and  diffusion  since  the 
various  writings  composing  it  were  collected, 
selected,  and  recognized  as  authoritative  and 
sacred.  The  long  process  of  thus  gathering  and 
establishing  them,  technically  known  as  the  for- 
mation of  the  Canon,  constitutes  a  separate 
theme — preliminary,  indeed,  and  of  the  greatest 
interest — but  needing  to  be  treated  by  itself. 
For  the  simple  purpose,  however,  of  tracing  the 
principal  steps  by  which  we  have  come  into  pos- 
session of  the  English  Bible  of  our  own  day,  it 
is  necessary  to  cover  only  the  last  fifteen  or  six- 
teen centuries.  Accordingly,  for  convenience, 
let  us  go  back  to  that  important  way-mark  in 
Christian  history,  325  A.  D.,  which  was  signal- 
ized by  the  adoption  of  the  Nicene  Creed;  and 
from  this  point  of  departure,  looking  before  and 
a  fter,  we  may  see  the  main  facts  which  we  need 
to  notice. 

Back  of  the  date  here  mentioned  there  lay 
nearly  three  hundred  years  of  remarkable  Chris- 
tian activity  following  the  death  of  Jesus,  during 
which  the  gospel  had  spread  abroad  through  the 

19 


20         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

greater  portion  of  the  civilized  world,  and  at 
length  had  won  recognition  and  acceptance  by 
imperial  Rome  in  the  person  of  Constantine  the 
Great,  who  had  just  come  to  the  throne  of  the 
Caesars.  The  new  religion  had  produced  a  fresh, 
strong  literature,  the  best  parts  of  which  had 
been  sifted  out,  gathered  together,  used  and  ap- 
pealed to,  in  worship  and  teaching,  by  the  gen- 
eral consensus  of  Christian  opinion.  This  devel- 
opment had  been  slow  and  natural,  and  was  not 
yet  complete;  in  fact  the  final  determination  of 
the  New  Testament  Canon,  by  ecclesiastical  de- 
cree, did  not  occur  until  495  a.  d.1  Yet,  at  the 
time  we  are  considering,  the  chief  of  these  select 
writings  were  already  most  highly  esteemed, 
being  regarded  as  very  precious  and  practically 
of  equal  rank  with  the  Old  Testament.  These 
last-named  scriptures  were  produced  within  the 
fifteen  centuries  of  Israelitish  history  which  lay 
still  farther  back,  before  the  time  of  Christ — in- 
deed, the  bulk  of  them  within  the  second  half  of 
that  period.  They,  likewise,  had  been  sifted  out 
and  brought  together — first,  and  gradually,  into 
three  distinct  collections,  and  finally  into  a  single 
collection;  and  toward  the  close  of  the  period 
they  had  been  translated  into  Greek  for  the 
use   of    Greek-speaking   Jews,    of   whom    there 

1  Professor  Edward  C.  Moore,  in  a  lecture.  See  especially  his 
volume,  The  New  Testament  in  the  Christian  Church  (Macmillan, 
1904),  pp.  32,  33,   160-163.     Very  valuable. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE  21 

were  many  at  Alexandria  and  the  other  leading 
cities  of  the  Graeco-Roman  world. 

Some  of  these  sacred  writings — possibly  of 
both  Testaments,  and  certainly  of  the  Old — ex- 
isted upon  prepared  skins,  but  most  of  them  upon 
papyrus,  a  material  introduced  among  the  Greeks 
from  the  Egyptians  several  centuries  previously. 
It  consisted  of  sheets  made  from  the  papyrus 
plant,  a  species  of  bulrush  found  along  the  river 
Nile  and  also  in  Syria.  The  interior  or  pith  of 
the  stalk,  after  removing  the  rind,  was  cut  into 
thin  strips,  which  were  laid  lengthwise,  side  by 
side,  and  crosswise  on  top,  and  then  while  damp 
were  pressed  together,  being  rubbed  even  and 
smooth  by  some  hard  substance  like  bone  or 
ivory.  Upon  that  crude  kind  of  "paper"  (de- 
rived from  this  very  word  "papyrus")  those 
precious  words  of  religious  thought  and  faith 
were  inscribed  with  a  sort  of  pen  called  a  stylus, 
made  from  a  reed.  Obviously  copies  of  the 
Scriptures,  in  whole  or  in  part,  must  have  been 
made  quite  frequently,  in  order  both  to  preserve 
them  and  to  circulate  them  among  the  churches. 

After  325  a.  d.  a  few  events  and  develop- 
ments took  place  which  affected  favorably  the 
course  of  the  Bible. 

1.  Christianity,  being  espoused  by  the  em- 
peror, immediately  became  honorable  and  pow- 
erful; its  friends  multiplied,  its  churches  in- 
creased, and  wealth  began  to  flow  to  its  support. 


22         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

All  this  naturally  augmented  the  demand  for 
copies  of  the  Scriptures.  Constantine  himself 
ordered  no  less  than  fifty  for  the  churches  of 
Constantinople  alone. 

2.  The  Christian  writings,  which  had  grown 
in  importance  until  they  had  come  to  be  as  highly 
esteemed  2  for  spiritual  uses  as  those  of  the  Old 
Testament,  were  now  more  frequently  recorded 
upon  parchment.  This  had  the  twofold  effect  of 
rendering  the  Scriptures  more  secure,  and  of  fa- 
cilitating the  collection  of  the  New  Testament 
books  into  a  single  volume,  which  had  been  im- 
practicable before  because  of  the  inconvenient 
size  of  the  papyrus  rolls.3     At  least  two  copies, 

*  "We  have  seen  that  it  was  upon  the  regular  reading  of  the 
apostolic  literature  in  the  public  services  of  the  Christians  for 
worship  that  the  hallowing  of  this  literature  followed.  The  later 
generations  would  have  said  that  they  read  these  books  because 
they  deemed  them  inspired  and  sacred.  So  we  say  today.  The 
earlier  generations  read  them  because  the  books  told  of  Christ  and 
took  the  place  of  the  Apostles.  They  came  to  deem  sacred  and 
inspired,  writings  which  did  thus  tell  of  Christ  and  take  the  place 
of  the  Apostles,  and  which  they  had  been  accustomed  to  read,  along 
with  the  inspired  writings  of  the  Old  Testament,  in  the  services  for 
public  worship. 

"Whatever  literature  was  read  in  the  leading  Christian  com- 
munities from  Sunday  to  Sunday  in  the  last  decades  of  the  second 
century,  that,  after  a  time,  men  came  to  regard  as  divine  Scrip- 
ture, being  led  up  to  that  idea  by  the  long  process  which  we  have 
reviewed.  That  high  authority  which  they  found  this  literature, 
for  inward  and  spiritual  reasons,  to  possess,  they  soon  came  to  con- 
ceive in  outward  fashion,  and  to  explain  in  the  manner  in  which 
they  had  already  reasoned  concerning  the  authority  of  the  Old 
Testament." — Professor  E.  C  Moore's  The  New  Testament  in  the 
Christian  Church,  pp.    136,   137,   140,   141. 

8  "The  elder  of  the  church  in  Western  Asia  who  arose  in  his 
congregation  to  read  the  letter  of  St.  Paul  which  we  know  as  the 
Epistle  to  the  Epbesians,  must  have  held  in  his  hand  a  roll  of  white 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE  23 

Codex  Sinaiticus  and  Codex  Vaticanus,  of  the 
New  Testament  made  shortly  after  this  date, 
that  is,  made  about  the  middle  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, were  destined  to  survive  until  our  own 
time. 

3.  Jerome  was  born  340  or  342  a.  d.,  and 
died  in  420.  He  became  the  leading  Christian 
scholar  of  the  Western  Church,  and  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  Pope  Damasus  devoted  his  abilities 
to  the  service  of  the  Bible.  He  revised  the  exist- 
ing Latin  translation  of  the  New  Testament, 
rendered  into  Latin  the  Psalms  from  the  Sep- 
tuagint,  and  with  the  aid  of  a  few  Jewish  rabbis 
executed  a  new  translation  of  the  remainder  of 
the  Old  Testament  directly  froLi  the  Hebrew. 
This  work,  notwithstanding  the  papal  sanction, 
encountered  prolonged  opposition  from  the  con- 
servative party  in  the  Church.  Nevertheless  it 
won  its  way,  and  in  the  ninth  century,  after  var- 
ious modifications,  superseded  all  other  versions, 
being  adopted  with  the  utmost  unanimity  and 
praise,  and  having  the  title  "Vulgate"  trans- 
ferred to  it.    It  became  the  one  authoritative  ver- 


or  light  yellow  material  about  four  feet  in  length  and  some  ten 
inches  in  height.  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles  might  have  formed  a 
portly  roll  of  thirty  feet,  or  might  even  have  been  divided  into 
two  or  more  sections.  Even  had  the  idea  been  entertained  of 
making  a  collection  of  all  the  books  which  now  form  our  New 
Testament,  it  would  have  been  quite  impossible  to  have  combined 
them  in  a  single  volume,  so  long  as  papyrus  was  the  material  used." 
— Frederick  G.  Kenyon,  Our  Bible  and  the  Ancient  Manuscripts, 
P.  94. 


24        NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

sion  for  all  the  churches  of  western  Europe  until 
the  Protestant  Reformation.4 

From  about  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century 
onward  for  a  thousand  years,  the  Church  of 
Rome  was  engaged  in  playing  that  conspicuous 
role  which  her  bold  ecclesiastical  policy  and  the 
national  changes  occurring  in  Europe  rendered 
possible.  Under  her  administration  Christianity 
was  spread  abroad  with  remarkable  vigor  and 
skill,  and  gradually  won  the  allegiance  of  the 
great  barbarian  tribes — first  of  the  Franks,  and 
then  of  their  German  kinsmen;  thus  it  became  a 
powerful  factor  in  the  development  of  the  mod- 
ern European  nations.  Moreover,  amid  the 
ruins  of  the  Roman  Empire,  this  mighty  Church 
stood  for  whatever  of  culture,  order,  reverence, 
and  glory  the  word  civilisation  could  mean.  It 
was  not  a  time  in  which  learning  could  thrive, 
for  it  was  an  era  of  turbulence  resulting  from  the 
decay  of  the  old  paganism  and  the  conflict  of 
Christianity  with  the  new  barbarism.  The 
knowledge  of  Greek  had  nearly  died  out,  Latin 
was  the  language  of  the  schools,  the  churches, 
and  the  courts,  and  new  dialects  were  growing 
up  here  and  there  with  the  rise  of  new  peoples. 
Yet   a   degree   of   scholarship   was   still   main- 

*  "There  were  good  reasons  for  the  supremacy  of  the  Vulgate. 
The  devotions,  the  Canon  Law,  the  liturgical  usages  of  a  thou- 
sand years,  the  universal  value  of  Latin  as  the  language  of  edu- 
cated men,  worked  toward  this  end." — Professor  Henry  S.  Nash, 
The  History  of  the  Higher  Criticism  (Macmillan,   1900),  p.  23,  note 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE  25 

tained,  some  attempts  were  made  at  popular  in- 
struction, and  a  few  of  the  universities  were 
founded  that  were  destined  to  become  great  cen- 
ters of  learning.  Above  all,  in  the  monasteries 
the  monks  were  busy  transcribing  the  books  of 
the  Bible,  in  order  to  meet  the  constant  demand 
for  copies  of  the  Scriptures.  They  constituted  a 
class  of  scribes,  who  made  a  special  business  oi 
copying  manuscripts,  and  they  attained  great 
skill  in  the  art.  Their  work  had  to  be  done  by 
hand,  it  required  infinite  care  and  patience,  and 
at  best  many  mistakes  were  inevitable.  Some 
of  the  scribes  illuminated  and  ornamented  their 
copies,  so  as  to  render  them  beautiful;  and  occa- 
sionally kings  or  ecclesiastical  dignitaries  caused 
manuscripts  to  be  made  the  letters  of  which,  es- 
pecially in  the  names  of  God  and  Christ,  were 
covered  with  silver  or  gold.  Sometimes,  in- 
deed, these  were  made  with  all  the  letters  in 
gold,  and  were  bound  with  plates  of  silver  and 
gold,  studded  with  jewels.5 

This  work  of  transcribing  was  not  confined 
to  the  Latin  language;  translations  were  made 
into  the  various  dialects  with  which  Christianity 
had  come  into  contact.     A  Catholic  writer6  in- 

•  "Beautiful  manuscripts,  finely  written  in  golden  letters 
upon  thie  parehmeat,  were  articles  of  pious  luxury  even  in  the 
fourth  century. *"— Eauard  W.  E.  Reuss,  History  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment (Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  1884),  p.  385;  translated  by  E.  L. 
Houghton.  See  Book  III  for  much  valuable  information  on  the 
above  subject. 

•  Mr.  L.  A.  Buckingham,  The  Bible  in  the  Middle  Ages,  Lon- 
don,  1853. 


26        NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

stances  sixteen  of  these  translations  into  modern 
languages  made  between  the  fourth  and  the  fif- 
teenth centuries.  But  the  vast  majority  of  the 
copies  of  the  Bible  circulating  in  the  West  dur- 
ing this  long  period  were  in  the  Latin — some- 
times made  from  the  Old  Latin  version,  some- 
times from  Jerome's  translation,  sometimes 
partly  from  each. 

The  process  of  copying  the  Scriptures  was 
necessarily  expensive.  It  required  many  small 
skins  to  yield  sufficient  parchment,7  which  itself 
was  costly,  and  the  task  involved  an  immense 
amount  of  labor.  In  the  uncial  manuscripts  each 
letter  was  a  capital  and  had  to  be  written  sep- 
arately; and  although  the  cursive  style  of  writ- 
ing, mainly  employed  after  the  ninth  century, 
was  much  more  easy  and  rapid,  still  the  copying 
of  the  whole  Bible  was  a  toilsome  undertaking. 
It  has  been  estimated  that  the  cost  of  producing 
a  complete  copy  of  the  Scriptures  in  this  fashion 
at  present  would  be  at  least  one  thousand  dol- 
lars. Therefore  only  the  more  important  books 
of  the  Bible,  such  as  the  gospels  or  the  epistles 
of  Paul,  were  extensively  circulated  during  the 
Middle  Ages,  between  the  fifth  and  the  twelfth 
centuries.  Under  the  circumstances,  however, 
these  may  be  said  to  have  had  a  wide  reading, 
and  doubtless  many  thousands  of  manuscripts, 

7  The  size  of  the  pages  varied  from  9%X6^  to  2oX*3% 
inches.  The  number  of  sheets  required  to  contain  the  entire  Bible 
made  a  huge  volume. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE  27 

great  and  small,  might  have  been  found  in  the 
various  churches,  monasteries  and  university  li- 
braries, as  well  as  in  private  hands,  throughout 
mediaeval  Europe. 

Approaching  the  era  of  the  Protestant  Ref- 
ormation, we  encounter  a  growing  spirit  of  in- 
dependence among  the  people,  along  with  in- 
creasing corruptions  on  the  part  of  the  priests, 
monks,  and  higher  ecclesiastics.  A  Christian 
heart-hunger  craved  the  bread  of  life  in  the 
form  of  translations  of  the  Bible  into  the  mother- 
tongues  of  the  different  peoples,  especially 
those  of  Teutonic  stock.  Various  partial 
attempts  were  made  in  England  to  satisfy  this 
desire,  reaching  from  Caedmon's  paraphrase  of 
the  Scripture  narrative,  written  about  670,  to 
the  work  of  John  Wycliffe  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury. Wycliffe  rendered  the  New  Testament  into 
English  about  1380,  and  the  Old  Testament  in 
1382  or  a  little  later.  This  was  only  a  secondary 
translation  from  the  Latin  Vulgate,  but  it  was 
a  great  and  promising  achievement.8  Other  in- 
fluences were  at  work  which  were  soon  to  pro- 
duce important  results.  Among  these  was  a  re- 
awakening of  interest  in  the  study  of  the  Greek 
language  and  literature,  as  an  outcome  of  the 

8  "This  ....  work  was  mainly  executed  by  Wycliffe  himself, 
but  his  friend  Nicholas  Hereford  did  part  of  the  Old  Testament. 
Afterwards  the  whole  was  revised  by  John  Purvey,  who  assisted 
Wycliffe  in  his  parish  duty  at  Lutterworth,  and  finished  his  edition 
probably  not  long  after  the  reformer's  death"  (1384). — Encych' 
pcedia  Britannica,  Vol.  XXIV,  p.  710. 


28         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Crusades.  More  significant  still  was  the  inven- 
tion of  printing9  in  the  fifteenth  century,  the  serv- 
ice of  which  was  to  dispense  with  the  laborious 
copying  of  manuscripts.  Erasmus  was  born  in 
1467  and  lived  until  1536,  and  in  the  course  of 
his  career  did  more,  perhaps,  than  any  other 
man  to  sow  the  seeds  of  revolution  by  his  bib- 
lical labors  as  well  as  by  his  writings.  He  be- 
came a  critical  scholar,  was  sometime  professor 
of  Greek  in  Cambridge,  and  published  the  New 
Testament  in  Greek  with  an  improved  Latin 
translation  and  comments.  The  first  edition  ap- 
peared in  1 5 16,  and  several  other  editions,  some- 
what revised,  in  quick  succession.  The  work 
created  a  furor  everywhere  and  marked  a  new 
epoch  in  religious  thought.10 

At  the  same  time,  over  on  the  Continent, 
Luther  was  drawing  the  thunderbolt  out  of  the 
sky  by  defying  the  power  of  Rome,  and  the  Prot- 
estant Reformation  was  immediately,  inaugu- 
rated. In  his  prison-retreat  in  the  Castle  of  Wart- 

9  The  first  book  printed  in  Europe  was  the  Latin  Bible,  issued 
by  Gutenberg  in   1456,   a  copy  of  which  is  in  the  British  Museum. 

10  "Never  was  volume  more  passionately  devoured.  A  hun- 
dred thousand  copies  were  soon  sold  in  France  alone.  The  fire 
spread  as  it  spread  behind  Samson's  foxes  in  the  Philistines'  corn. 
The  clergy's  skins  were  tender  from  long  impunity.  They  shrieked 
from  pulpit  and  platform,  and  made  Europe  ring  with  their  clamor. 
The  more  loudly  they  cried  the  more  Europe  perceived  the  justice 
of  their  chastisement.  The  words  of  the  Bible  have  been  so  long 
familiar  to  us  that  we  can  hardly  realize  what  the  effect  must 
have  been  when  the  Gospel  was  brought  out  fresh  and  visible 
before  the  astonished  eyes  of  mankind." — James  Anthony  Froude, 
Life  and  Letters  of  Erasmus  (Scribner,   1894),  p.  127. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE  29 

burg-  he  at  once  began  the  translation  of  the 
Bible  into  the  German  language,  and,  along 
with  other  arduous  labors,  continued  indefati- 
gably  at  this  great  task  for  nearly  twenty-five 
years,  comprising  the  publication  and  revision 
of  successive  editions  of  his  work.11 

Returning  to  England,  we  approach  the  de- 
velopments which  led  directly  to  the  production 
of  the  King  James  or  Authorized  Version  of  the 
Bible.  We  are  not  to  think  of  this  as  the  work 
of  a  single  master-mind,  or  even  as  the  unaided 
achievement  of  the  particular  group  of  scholars 
who  finally  gave  it  form.  Behind  it  lay  the 
labors  of  many  toilers,  covering  nearly  a  cen- 
tury; indeed,  if  we  include  those  of  Wyclifre  and 
his  assistants,  they  extend  over  two  and  a  quar- 
ter centuries.  Foremost  among  all  who  contrib- 
uted to  the  great  result  was  William  Tyndale, 
who  doubly  gave  his  life  to  the  cause.  He  was 
born  in  1484,  was  educated  mainly  at  Oxford, 
but  in  1 5 10  was  drawn  to  Cambridge  by  the 
fame   of   Erasmus,    who    was    lecturing   there. 

11  The  New  Testament  was  first  issued  at  Wittenberg  in 
September,  1522;  the  first  complete  Bible  in  1534;  a  revised  edition, 
with  the  co-operation  of  Melanchthon  and  other  friends,  in  1541; 
and  still  another  revision  in  1545.  "Luther's  Bible  not  only  be- 
came the  firmest  support  of  the  Reformation  and  the  noblest  monu- 
ment of  his  own  fame,  but  it  is  a  national  German  work Its 

language,  happily  rising  out  of  Old  German  harshness,  the  best  that 
Luther  wrote,  and  surpassed  by  none  of  his  contemporaries,  sounded 
like  a  prophecy  of  a  golden  age  of  literature,  and  in  manly  vigor 
and  anointing  of  the  Holy  Spirit  it  has  ever  remained  a  model 
unapproached." — E.  W.  E.  Reuss,  History  of  the  New  Testament, 
Vol.    II,   pp.    489,    490. 


30        NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Doubtless  the  influence  of  this  brilliant  teacher 
helped  him  to  resolve  upon  the  undertaking  to 
which  he  so  earnestly  devoted  himself.  After 
nearly  ten  years  of  precarious  employment,  and 
being  convinced  that  he  could  not  safely  bring 
out  his  work  at  home,  he  left  England  in  1524 
and  went  to  Hamburg.  Here  he  completed  his 
translation  of  the  New  Testament,  and  the  next 
year  it  was  published  at  Worms.12  Several  re- 
vised editions  appeared  in  the  decade  following, 
along  with  portions  of  the  Old  Testament.  But 
he  was  not  able  to  finish  the  latter  before  he  was 
seized  by  order  of  the  emperor  and  put  to  death 
as  a  heretic,  in  1536.13 

The  year  before  Tyndale  died  Miles  Cover- 
dale  translated  the  Bible  from  the  Dutch  (i.  e., 
German)  and  Latin.  It  was  printed  abroad,  but 
promptly  appeared  in  England.  While  not  actu- 
ally authorized,  the  work  had  been  produced 
with  the  sanction  and  support  of  Thomas  Crom- 

12  "Money  for  the  work  had  been  found  by  a  number  of  Eng- 
lish merchants,  and  by  their  means  the  copies  were  secretly  con- 
veyed into  England,  where  they  were  eagerly  bought  and  read  on 
all  sides." — Frederick  G.  Kenyon,  Our  Bible  and  the  Ancient  Manu- 
scripts, p.  212. 

18  The  emperor  was  Charles  V,  ruler  of  Spain,  Austria,  and 
the  Netherlands.  Tyndale  was  residing  in  Antwerp  at  the  time  of 
his  base  betrayal  in  1535.  Being  kidnapped,  he  was  imprisoned  at 
Vilworde,  in  Belgium.  Henry  VIII,  king  of  England,  did  nothing 
to  procure  his  release,  and  Cromwell,  though  sympathizing  with 
the  unfortunate  man,  could  not  save  him.  He  was  tried,  con- 
victed of  heresy,  and  strangled  to  death,  his  body  being  burned, 
near  Brussels,  October  6,  1536.  He  died  with  the  prayer  on  his 
lips,  "Lord,  open  the  king  of  England's  eyes!"  The  very  next 
year   Henry  permitted   Cranmer   to   circulate  the   Bible  in   England. 


'    HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE  31 

well,  secretary  of  state  and  otherwise  chief 
functionary  under  King  Henry  VIII,  and  was 
dedicated  to  the  king.  It  was  the  first  complete 
Bible  printed  in  English,  and  the  Psalms  in  it 
are  those  still  used  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  of  the  Church  of  England.  Two  revised 
editions  were  issued  in  1537,  being  "set  forth 
with  the  King's  most  gracious  license." 

The  demand  for  the  Bible  grew.  A  work 
known  as  "Matthew's  Bible,"  which  was  really 
a  completion  of  Tyndale's  enterprise,  was  pub- 
lished in  London  in  1537,  though  printed  prob- 
ably in  Antwerp.  In  1539  Richard  Taverner, 
an  Oxford  scholar,  issued  an  independent  trans- 
lation. In  the  same  year  the  "Great  Bible,"  so 
called  from  its  very  large  size,  was  brought  out 
under  the  direction  of  Cromwell,  who  ordered 
a  copy  to  be  put  in  some  convenient  place  in 
every  church.  This  work  was  not  a  new  trans- 
lation, but  a  thorough  revision,  made  by  Cover- 
dale,  of  Matthew's  Bible.  The  edition  of  1540 
and  subsequent  editions  contained  a  long  pref- 
ace by  Archbishop  Cranmer,  whence  it  is  often 
called  "Cranmer's  Bible." 

But  a  reaction  against  Protestantism  soon  set 
in;  and  in  1543  all  translations  of  the  Bible  bear- 
ing Tyndale's  name  were  ordered  destroyed,  and 
three  years  later  Coverdale's  New  Testament  was 
joined  in  the  same  condemnation.  "The  public 
use  of  the   English   Bible  was   forbidden,   and 


32         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

copies  were  removed  from  the  churches. "  A  num- 
ber of  scholars,  fleeing  the  country,  found  a  wel- 
come in  Geneva,  where  Calvin  and  Beza  were  in 
the  midst  of  their  great  work.  Here  was  pro- 
duced the  important  "Geneva  Bible"  which  con- 
sisted of  a  careful  revision  of  the  Old  Testament 
of  the  "Great  Bible"  and  of  Tyndale's  last  revis- 
ion of  the  New  Testament.  This  was  published 
in  1560,  and  soon  came  to  be  the  Bible  of  the 
household  among  English  people.  Its  superiority 
incited  a  demand  for  a  further  revision  of  the 
"Great  Bible"  for  use  in  the  churches.  Such  a 
work,  known  as  the  "Bishops'  Bible,"  was  pub- 
lished in  1568,  with  a  second  edition  in  1572.  In 
1 582-1609  the  Roman  Catholics  produced  the 
Rheims  and  Douai  Bible,  which  was  a  transla- 
tion, not  from  the  original  Hebrew  and  Greek, 
but  from  the  Latin  Vulgate. 

But  there  was  still  a  call  for  improvement.  The 
marginal  comments  in  the  Genevan  Bible,  which 
were  of  a  Calvinistic  tone,  were  objectionable  to 
many,  while  other  faults  were  pointed  out  by 
scholars.  At  a  conference  called  by  King  James 
I,  in  1604,  the  subject  was  brought  up  by  Dr. 
Reynolds,  President  of  Corpus  Christi  College, 
Oxford,  and  a  Puritan  leader,  who  "moved  his 
Majesty  that  there  might  be  a  new  translation 
of  the  Bible,  because  those  which  were  allowed 
in  the  reign  of  King  Henry  VIII  and  Edward 
VI  were  corrupt,  and  not  answerable  to  the  truth 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE  33 

of  the  original."  14  He  was  supported  by  Bishop 
Bancroft  of  London,  and  the  king  was  interested ; 
indeed,  it  was  the  latter  who  proposed  the  plan 
of  procedure,  namely :  that  the  revision  or  trans- 
lation should  be  made  principally  by  the  univer- 
sities; that  it  should  be  approved  by  the  bishops, 
by  the  Privy  Council,  and  by  the  king  himself; 
and  that  it  should  have  no  marginal  commentary. 
A  list  of  fifty-four  distinguished  scholars  was 
approved  for  the  task,  and  in  1607  they  set  to 
work,  at  least  forty-seven  of  them.  They  were 
divided  into  six  groups,  sitting  two  at  Westmin- 
ster, two  at  Oxford,  and  two  at  Cambridge. 
Taking  the  Bishops'  Bible  as  a  basis,  they  con- 
sulted and  used  to  some  extent  the  translations 
of  Tyndale,  Matthew,  Coverdale,  the  "Great 
Bible,"  the  Geneva  Bible,  and  the  Rheims  and 
Douai  Version.  They  were  occupied  laboriously 
for  two  years  and  nine  months,  the  last  nine 
months  being  given  to  the  final  revision  by  a 
committee  of  two  from  each  of  the  six  groups. 
The  new  translation  was  published  in  161 1, 
with  a  "Dedication  to  the  King,"  and  with  a 
lengthy  preface  bestowing  abundant  praise  upon 
him  for  his  royal  patronage,  and  explaining  the 
principles  and  aims  of  the  work.  It  was  "ap- 
pointed to  be  read  in  churches,"  and,  though  there 
is  no  record  of  any  formal  act  of  authorization, 
it  at  once   superseded  the   Bishops'    Bible  and 

14  The  Cambridge  Companion  to  the  Bible,   1893,  p.  85. 


34        NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

grew  in  popular  favor  until  it  became  the  recog- 
nized Bible  of  the  English  people. 

The  interest  which  these  various  early  trans- 
lations into  the  vernacular  awakened  was  in- 
tense. We  in  these  calm,  tolerant  days  may  not 
easily  conceive  how  matters  then  stood.  Say 
what  they  will  to  the  contrary,  the  Catholics  did 
not  want  the  common  people  to  read  the  Bible. 
"Charles  V  and  Philip  II  passed  a  decree  which 
inflicted  the  punishment  of  death  by  burning  on 
any  in  the  Netherlands  who  presumed  to  read 
the  Bible  in  any  language  which  they  could 
understand." 15  Likewise  in  England,  "even 
under  Henry  VIII,  it  was  a  crime  punishable 
with  death  to  read  the  Bible  in  a  language  which 
they  understood."  16  Consequently  the  people  had 
known  little  about  its  precious  contents;  but  now 
that  it  had  become  possible  for  them  to  read  or 
hear  it,  they  were  profoundly  stirred. 

"Englishmen,"  says  a  scholar  of  the  time,  "were  so 
eager  for  the  gospel  as  to  affirm  that  they  would  buy  a 
New  Testament  even  if  they  had  to  give  a  hundred 
thousand  pieces  of  money  for  it."  Bibles  and  pamph- 
lets were  smuggled  over  to  England  and  circulated  among 
the  poorer  and  trading  classes  through  the  agency 
of  an  association  of  "Christian  Brethren,"  consisting  prin- 


18  Motley's  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  Vol.  I,  pp.  73,  228 ; 
given  by  Archdeacon  Farrar  in  The  Bible — Its  Meaning  and  Su- 
premacy, p.  212. 

*•  Farrar,  ibid.,  p.  324. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE  35 

cjpally   t>f   London    tradesmen    and    citizens,    but    whose 
missionaries  spread  over  the  country  at  large.17 

Notwithstanding  the  deep  feeling  thus  every- 
where manifested  with  reference  to  the  Bible,  the 
authorities  opposed  its  popular  use.  When  Tyn- 
dale's  translation  appeared  in  England,  its  de- 
struction was  promptly  ordered,  and  thousands 
of  copies  were  burned  at  the  old  cross  of  St. 
Paul's,  as  "a  burnt  offering  most  pleasing  to  Al- 
mighty God."18  Bishop  Tunstall  and  other 
bishops  subscribed  money  to  buy  up  all  the  copies 
they  could  get  hold  of;  but  this  proceeding 
merely  helped  Tyndale  to  pay  his  debts  and  go 

1TJ.  R.  Green,  History  of  the  English  People,  Vol.  II,  pp. 
128,  129.  After  "Henry  VIII  at  last  permitted  the  English  Bible 
to  be  published,"  says  Taine,  "everyone  who  could  buy  this  book 
either  read  it  assiduously,  or  had  it  read  to  him  by  others,  and 
many  well  advanced  in  years  learned  to  read  with  the  same 
object.  On  Sunday  the  poor  folk  gathered  at  the  bottom  of  the 
churches  to  hear  it  read.  Maldon,  a  young  man,  afterwards 
related  that  he  had  clubbed  his  earnings  with  an  apprentice  to 
buy  a  New  Testament,  and  that  for  fear  of  his  father,  they  had 
hidden  it  In  their  straw  mattress."  Again  he  says:  "Try  to  pic- 
ture these  yeomen,  these  shopkeepers,  who  in  the  evening  placed 
this  Bible  on  their  table,  and  bareheaded,  with  veneration,  heard 
or  read  one  of  its  chapters.  Think  that  they  have  no  other  books, 
that  theirs  was  a  virgin  mind,  that  every  impression  would  make 
a  furrow,  that  the  monotony  of  mechanical  existence  rendered 
them  open  to  new  emotions,  that  they  opened  this  book,  not  for 
amusement,  but  to  discover  in  it  their  doom  of  life  and  death." 
— History  of  English  Literature,  Vol.  II,  pp.    166,   168. 

is  <«  'With  six  and  thirty  abbotts,  mitred  priors,  and  bishops, 
and  he  in  his  whole  pomp  mitred,'  the  Cardinal  [Wolsey]  looked 
on  while  'great  baskets  full  of  books  ....  were  commanded  after 
the  great  fire  was  made  before  the  Rood  of  Northen,'  the  crucifix 
by  the  great  door  of  the  cathedral,  'thus  to  be  burned,  and  those 
heretics  to  go  thrice  about  the  fire  and  to  cast  in  their  fagots.'  " 
—J.  R.  Green,  History  of  the  English  People,  Vol.  II,  p.  128, 


36         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

on  with  his  revision  and  printing  of  the  New 
Testament.  Later,  when  the  Great  Bible  was 
published,  and  copies  were  set  up  in  the  churches, 
six  being  in  St.  Paul's,  Bishop  Bonner  com- 
plained because  the  people  gathered  about  these 
to  hear  the  Scriptures  read,  in  preference  to  lis- 
tening to  his  sermons.  Even  as  late  as  the  Coun- 
cil of  Trent  (1545-63)  it  was  decreed  that  who- 
ever should  presume  to  read  or  to  have  a  Bible 
without  permission  might  not  receive  absolution 
until  he  should  surrender  the  book. 

Doubtless  this  general  attitude  of  hostility  on 
the  part  of  both  the  ecclesiastical  and  the  civil 
authorities  was  due  to  several  causes — to  intel- 
lectual and  moral  inertia,  to  the  instinct  of  self- 
preservation  inhering  in  institutions  as  well  as 
in  individuals,  to  the  wholesome  conservatism 
which  desires  to  "hold  fast  that  which  is  good," 
and  also  to  that  distrust  of  the  people  and  that 
dread  of  liberalism  which  have  so  often  stood  in 
the  way  of  human  progress.  It  was  the  age  of 
the  Inquisition ;  it  was  the  age,  too,  of  the  world's 
travail  in  the  birth  of  the  modern  spirit,  which 
was  "set  for  the  rise  and  fall  of  many."  In- 
stinctively the  reigning  powers  in  Church  and 
State  felt  the  tendency  of  events,  and  shrank 
from  consequences  which  were  fraught  with  even 
greater  danger  to  themselves  than  they  were 
aware.  Yet  their  antagonism  proved  futile, 
truth  and  right  prevailed,  and  the  Word  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE  37 

Lord  found  free  course  to  run  and  be  glorified.10 
The  great  influence  of  the  Authorized  Version 
among  English-speaking  people,  fitly  paralleling 
that  of  Luther's  translation  among  the  Germans, 
has  been  marked  from  the  beginning.  Its  superi- 
ority to  previous  English  renderings  was  quickly 
recognized,  and  its  literary  merits  have  never 
failed  of  appreciation.    "It  is  the  finest  specimen 

"  The  historic  situation  is  vividly  portrayed  by  Mr.  James 
Anthony  Froude,  who  says:  "The  Christian  religion  as  taught 
and  practised  in  Western  Europe  consisted  of  the  Mass  and  the 
Confessional,  of  elaborate  ceremonials,  rituals,  processions,  pil- 
grimages, prayers  to  the  Virgin  and  the  saints,  with  dispensations 
and  indulgences  for  laws  broken  or  duties  left  undone.  Of  the 
Gospels  and  Epistles  so  much  only  was  known  to  the  laity  as 
was  read  in  the  Church  services,  and  that  intoned  as  if  to  be 
purposely  unintelligible  to  the  understanding.  Of  the  rest  of  the 
Bible  nothing  was  known  at  all,  because  nothing  was  supposed 
to  be  necessary,  and  lectures  like  Colet's  at  Oxford  were  con- 
sidered superfluous  and  dangerous.  Copies  of  the  Scriptures 
were  rare,  shut  up  in  convent  libraries,  and  studied  only  by 
professional  theologians;  while  conventional  interpretations  were 
attached  to  the  text  which  corrupted  or  distorted  its  meaning. 
Erasmus  had  undertaken  to  give  the  book  to  the  whole  world 
to  read  for  itself — the  original  Greek  of  the  Epistles  and  Gospels, 
with  a  new  Latin  translation — to  wake  up  the  intelligence,  to 
show  that  the  words  had  a  real  sense,  and  were  not  mere 
sounds    like    the    dronings    of    a   barrel-organ. 

"It  was  finished  at  last,  text  and  translation  printed,  and 
the  living  facts  of  Christianity,  the  persons  of  Christ  and  the 
Apostles,  their  history,  their  lives,  their  teaching  were  revealed 
to  an  astonished  world.  For  the  first  time  the  laity  were  able 
to  see,  side  by  side,  the  Christianity  which  converted  the  world, 
and  the  Christianity  of  the  Church  with  a  Borgia  pope,  cardinal 
princes,  ecclesiastical  courts,  and  a  mythology  of  lies.  The 
effect  was  to  be  a  spiritual  earthquake. 

"Erasmus  had  edited  the  Greek  New  Testament  and  made 
a  fresh  translation.  Luther,  in  the  Castle  of  Wartburg,  was  trans- 
lating it  into  vernacular  German,  with  the  Old  Testament  to  fol- 
low. Together,  these  two  men  had  made  accessible  the  rock,  stronger 
than  the  rock  of  Peter,  on  which  the  faith  of  mankind  was  to  be 
rebuilt." — Life  and  Letters  of  Erasmus,  pp.  119,  120,  299. 


38         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

of  our  prose  literature  at  a  time  when  English 
prose  wore  its  stateliest  and  most  majestic  form," 
says  Mr.  Frederick  G.  Kenyon.  Doubtless  few 
good  judges  would  dissent  from  this  opinion. 
The  English  language  reached  a  very  high  stage 
of  development  in  the  half-century  immediately 
preceding  the  appearance  of  this  version,  for  it 
was  the  age  of  Shakespeare  and  Bacon,  of  Lati- 
mer, Spenser,  and  Raleigh,  and  it  is  easy  to  see 
how  admirably  it  uses  the  language,  and  how 
worthily  the  language  fits  the  exalted  and  serious 
thoughts  of  the  Scriptures.20  "No  master  of 
style,"  says  Mr.  Kenyon  further,  "has  been  blind 
to  its  charms ;  and  those  who  have  recommended 
its  study  most  strongly  have  often  been  those 
who,  like  Carlyle  and  Matthew  Arnold,  were  not 
prepared  to  accept  its  teaching  to  the  full." 21 
Coleridge  and  Ruskin  have  acknowledged  the 
surpassing  beauty  and  power  of  this  splendid 
production,  even  from  a  purely  literary  point  of 
view;  and  we  shall  not  be  amiss  if  we  regard  it 
as  our  greatest  English  classic,  and  therefore 
claim  for  it  a  place  in  the  education  of  all  who 
would  understand  either  the  course  of  English 
history  or  the  growth  of  English  literature. 

The  Authorized  Version  is  said  to  be  "trans- 
lated out  of  the  original  tongues;  and  with  the 
former  translations  diligently  compared  and  re- 

20  See  Taine's  History  of  English  Literature,  Vol.  II,  pp.  169  f. 
sl  Our  Bible  and  the  Ancient  Manuscripts,  p.  233. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE  39 

vised."  What  does  this  mean?  That  the  Old 
Testament  was  rendered  from  the  Hebrew,  and 
the  New  Testament  from  the  Greek.  But  what 
manuscript  or  manuscripts  did  the  translators 
have  before  them;  the  very  first  made,  those 
written  by  the  biblical  authors  themselves? 
Manifestly  not;  for  those  originals  had  perished 
long  before,  and  only  copies  of  copies  remained. 
These  copies  were  all  of  quite  late  dates,  they 
differed  more  or  less  from  one  another,  some  of 
them  therefore  were  inaccurate  to  a  considerable 
degree,  and  the  best  thing  the  translators  could 
do  was  to  compare  the  various  copies  closely  and 
use  their  critical  judgment  in  deciding  which 
reading  to  follow  in  any  given  case.  This  they 
did,  and  the  result  was  a  remarkable  achieve- 
ment of  conscientious  labor;  but  they  could  not 
produce  a  perfect  translation  of  the  original 
words  of  the  original  biblical  writings,  simply 
because  they  had  no  perfect  manuscript  copy. 
Perhaps  there  can  never  be  an  absolutely  perfect 
copy,  but  a  great  improvement  in  this  matter  has 
talen  place  since  the  Authorized  Version  was 
published. 

It  can  be  readily  seen  that  the  oldest  copies 
of  the  Bible,  or  of  any  portions  of  it,  must  be 
the  most  reliable  because  nearest  to  the  original. 
~nr  a  serious  disadvantage  of  the  hand-copying 
method  of  transmitting  and  diffusing  any  writ- 
ings— and,  as  has  been   shown,   such   was  the 


40         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

only  method  during  nearly  fifteen  centuries  of 
Christian  history — was  the  inevitable  and  in- 
creasing corruption  of  the  text,  resulting  from 
sheer  human  fallibility.  Hence,  as  a  rule,  the 
later  manuscripts  of  the  Bible  are  inferior  to 
the  earlier,  especially  before  the  dawn  of  modern 
critical  scholarship,  beginning  with  Erasmus. 
Now,  some  of  the  very  oldest  and  most  impor- 
tant biblical  manuscripts  have  been  found  within 
the  last  two  centuries,  a  few  of  them,  indeed, 
within  the  last  half -century.  At  present  we  have 
four  very  ancient  MSS  of  the  New  Testament, 
two  of  which — Codex  Vaticanus  and  Codex  Sin- 
aiticus — date  from  the  fourth  century,  and  the 
other  two — Codex  Alexandrinus  and  Codex  Eph- 
raemi — from  the  fifth.  Of  these  four  priceless 
documents  the  first  named  is  in  the  Vatican  Li- 
brary at  Rome,  the  second  in  the  Imperial  Li- 
brary at  St.  Petersburg,  the  third  in  the  British 
Museum  at  London,  and  the  other  in  the  Na- 
tional Library  at  Paris.  Each  of  these  has  an 
interesting  history,  and  not  a  little  of  thrilling 
romance  is  connected  with  at  least  one  of  them 
— Codex  Sinaiticus. 

This  manuscript  was  discovered  by  Dr.  Con- 
stantine  Tischendorf.  in  the  monastery  of  St. 
Catherine  at  Mount  Sinai  upon  his  third  visit 
there  in  1859.  At  his  first  visit,  in  1844,  he  had 
accidentally  found  some  pages  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament which  were  about  to  be  cast  into  the  fire, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE  41 

and  had  quite  easily  obtained  permission  to  keep 
them.  His  second  visit,  in  1853,  was  fruitless; 
but  returning,  six  years  later,  under  the  patron- 
age of  the  Czar,  he  was  received  with  more  favor 
by  the  monks,  and  was  rewarded  at  last  by  dis- 
covering and  obtaining  a  complete  copy  of  the 
New  Testament,  on  vellum  made  from  the  finest 
skins  of  antelopes,  and  in  a  large,  clear  hand- 
writing. He  brought  it  home  with  joy  and  pub- 
lished it  for  the  benefit  of  all  biblical  scholars, 
and  it  has  since  reposed  securely  in  the  archives 
of  Russia's  Imperial  Library.  Dr.  Teschendorf 
assigned  it  to  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century. 

One  of  the  other  manuscripts  mentioned — 
Codex  Vaticanus — is  generally  considered  older, 
and  therefore  the  very  oldest  known  to  exist; 
but  it  likewise  dates  from  the  fourth  century. 
It  has  been  in  its  present  home,  the  Vatican  Li- 
brary, since  about  1450.  After  being  jealously 
guarded,  and  shown  with  great  reluctance  even 
to  the  foremost  scholars,  it  was  published  in  a 
complete  photographic  facsimile  in  1889-90,  by 
permission  of  Pope  Leo  XIII,  in  connection  with 
the  celebration  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his 
elevation  to  the  priesthood. 

Because  of  all  the  discoveries  subsequent  to 
the  date  of  the  Authorized  Version,  and  because 
of  the  patient  labors  of  many  scholars  to  im- 
prove the  text  of  both  Testaments,  it  was  felt, 
a  generation  or  more  ago,  that  the  time  had 


42         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

come  for  another  revision  of  the  Bible.  As  early 
as  1856  the  subject  was  broached,  but  not  until 
1870  was  definite  action  taken.  In  that  year  a 
committee  of  English  churchmen,  soliciting  the 
co-operation  of  scholars  from  other  religious 
bodies  and  from  America,  undertook  the  work 
of  producing  a  Revised  Version.  Two  companies 
were  formed.  The  one  for  the  New  Testa- 
ment occupied  ten  and  a  half  years,  sitting  about 
forty  days  a  year;  that  for  the  Old  Testament 
fourteen  years,  sitting  about  fifty-six  days  a  year. 
In  1 87 1  two  corresponding  companies  of  Ameri- 
can scholars  joined  in  the  task.  The  Revised 
New  Testament  was  published  May  17,  1881 ; 
the  entire  Bible,  May  19,  1885.22 

The  principal  merit  of  this  revision  is  its 
greater  accuracy.  Not  only  is  it  rendered  from 
an  improved  text,  but  it  is  more  correctly  trans- 
lated than  any  former  version.  It  has  contrib- 
uted much  to  a  truer  general  understanding  of 
the  Bible,  not  merely  in  its  literary  aspects,  but 
even  more  in  its  teachings.  For  example,  it 
presents  the  subject-matter  in  proper  paragraphs, 
instead  of  in  single  verses,  and  thereby  conveys 
to  the  reader  some  sense  of  wholeness  in  his  con- 
ception of  any  given  passage  or  book;  it  prints 
such  works  as  Job,  the  Psalms,  and  Proverbs  in 
a  form  to  indicate  their  character  as  poetry;  it 

22  For  more  detailed  aod  complete  information,  see  the  pref- 
aces to  both  Testaments,  particularly  the  New,  in  the  Revised  Ver- 
sion;  also  the  Cambridge  Companion,  p.   87. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE  43 

likewise  indicates  the  quotations  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament from  the  Old;  its  marginal  readings 
throw  light  on  the  text;  and  its  more  truthful 
rendering  of  the  originals  formerly  translated 
"hell,"  "devil/'  "everlasting,"  "damnation,"  etc., 
dispels  not  a  few  gross  errors.  The  educative 
value  of  these  changes  marks  them  as  a  notewor- 
thy improvement,  alone  justifying  the  work  as  a 
whole.  We  may  expect  it  to  win  its  way  among 
those  who  care  more  for  correctness  than  for 
euphony  in  reading  the  Scriptures — who  believe, 
indeed,  that  the  meaning  of  Holy  Writ  is  too 
important  to  be  concealed  or  misinterpreted  for 
the  sake  of  a  smooth  and  pleasant  rendering. 
The  message  which  the  Bible  has  for  us  is  the 
message  which  its  authors  really  delivered;  and 
it  is  the  effort  to  get  at  that  actual,  original  mes- 
sage which  is  at  once  the  inspiration  and  the 
glory  of  modern  biblical  scholarship. 

When  the  Revised  Version  was  published  in 
1881-85,  there  were  numerous  instances  in  which 
different  translations  from  those  that  were 
adopted  were  preferred  by  the  American  Revi- 
sion Committee.  Inasmuch  as  the  English  schol- 
ars had  taken  the  initiative,  it  was  agreed  that 
they  should  have  the  decisive  vote  in  all  cases 
involving  diverse  opinions;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  was  also  agreed  that  the  American  pref- 
erences should  be  published  in  an  Appendix  to 
the  Revised  Version  for  a  term  of  fourteen  years, 


44        NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

and  that  during-  this  period  the  revised  Bible  as 
thus  issued  by  the  University  Presses  of  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  should  receive  the  cordial  sup- 
port of  the  whole  body  of  Revisers.  The  Amer- 
ican committee  thereupon  decided  to  continue 
its  organization,  with  a  view  to  the  ultimate  prep- 
aration of  still  another  revision  which  should 
embody  the  preferences  of  the  American  schol- 
ars, together  with  certain  other  desired  improve- 
ments. This  purpose  has  been  at  length  fully 
carried  out  in  the  publication,  in  1901,  by  Messrs. 
Thomas  Nelson  &  Sons,  of  the  American  Stand- 
ard Edition  of  the  Revised  Version. 

There  are  many  respects  in  which  this  Amer- 
ican Standard  Edition  is  superior,  not  only  to  the 
English  Revision,  but  to  all  previous  versions  in 
our  language.23  Not  merely  has  it  incorporated 
the  readings  published  in  the  Appendix,  as  above 
stated,  but  that  Appendix  itself  has  been  carefully 
revised.  It  has  adopted  the  term  "Jehovah" 
for  "Lord"  and  in  many  instances  "God," 
thereby  distinctly  conveying  the  important  historic 
fact  that  Jehovah  was  peculiarly  Israel's  God.  It 
has  changed  the  paragraphing  of  the  English  Re- 
vision slightly  and  for  the  better,  and  has  fur- 
nished subject-headings  at  the  top  of  the  page 
which  are  not  only  convenient  guides  in  reading, 
but  are  also  more  correct  than  those  of  the  Au- 

23  For  full  particulars  and  much  valuable  information  the 
reader  should  consult  the  prefaces  to  both  Testaments  of  the 
American   Revision. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE  45 

thorized  Version;  and  in  the  form  of  footnotes 
it  gives  alternate  renderings  of  words,  phrases, 
or  sentences,  or  anglicized  equivalents  of  the  ori- 
ginals, which  afford  instruction  as  to  various 
plausible  or  possible  shades  of  meaning.  Inac- 
curate translations  are  corrected,  as  in  I  Tim.  vi. 
10,  or  Acts  xvii.  22;  obsolete  words  are  dis- 
continued, and  modern  expressions  employed; 
the  term  "Holy  Spirit"  is  substituted  for  "Holy 
Ghost ;"  and  copious  marginal  references  are  sup- 
plied in  the  larger  editions.  These  and  other 
features  make  the  American  Standard  Revision 
undoubtedly  the  most  nearly  perfect  version  of 
the  Scriptures  ever  produced  in  the  English 
tongue. 

Still  other  translations  of  the  Bible,  in  whole 
or  in  part,  have  appeared  of  late,  but  they  can  be 
barely  mentioned  here.  The  Polychrome  Bible, 
for  the  studious  classes,  is  the  most  important 
of  these ;  while  The  Twentieth  Century  New  Tes- 
tament, rendered  into  the  language  of  today, 
makes  its  pages  wonderfully  vivid  and  interesting 
to  the  ordinary  reader.  Besides,  there  are  in- 
structive paraphrases  of  portions  of  the  Scrip- 
tures entitled  Messages  of  the  Bible,  prepared  by 
Professors  Kent  and  Sanders;  and  there  is  Pro- 
fessor Richard  G.  Moulton's  Modern  Reader's 
Bible,  which,  using  the  Revised  Version  of  1881- 
85,  casts  the  material  in  a  most  attractive  liter- 
ary and  typographical  form,  issued  in  small  vol- 


46        NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

umes,  with  introductory  and  explanatory  notes. 
Nor  should  omission  be  made  of  The  Temple 
Bible,  in  style  corresponding  to  the  "Temple  Edi- 
tion" of  Shakespeare,  issued  by  the  same  pub- 
lishers, Messrs.  J.  M.  Dent  and  Company,  and 
using  the  text  of  the  King  James  Version.  An- 
other admirable  edition  is  The  New-Century 
Bible,  edited  by  Professor  W.  F.  Adeny,  and 
published  likewise  in  small  volumes.  This  work 
employs  both  the  King  James  translation  and  the 
English  Revision,  and  is  furnished  with  copious 
footnotes  and  instructive  introductions  embody- 
ing modern  information  respecting  the  various 
biblical  books.  Together  these  many  editions 
have  brought  to  a  high  state  of  perfection  and 
usefulness  the  great  work  of  translating  the 
Holy  Scriptures  into  the  English  language.  Thus 
the  present  age  is  linked  with  the  ages  of  the 
past  by  the  golden  chain  of  the  history  of  the 
Bible. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  TRADITIONAL  VIEW  OF  THE  BIBLE 

The  previous  chapter  presented  some  of  the 
main  facts  in  the  story  of  the  way  in  which  we 
came  by  our  English  Bible.  We  have  now  to 
look  at  the  estimation  in  which  it  has  been  held 
since  about  the  time  of  the  making  of  the  Author- 
ized Version,  1611  a.  d.  It  will  be  necessary  to 
state  the  popular  view,  to  point  out  its  sources, 
to  show  its  practical  bearings,  and  to  pass  judg- 
ment upon  it,  before  we  can  appreciate  the  bet- 
ter conception  that  will  be  developed  out  of  our 
studies  as  we  proceed. 

The  customary  phrase  in  which  the  majority 
of  Christians  speak  of  the  Bible  is,  "the  Word 
of  God."  While  there  are,  perhaps,  few  persons 
so  densely  ignorant  as  to  suppose  that  the  Al- 
mighty literally  wrote  the  Sacred  Volume  and 
let  it  down  out  of  heaven  into  this  world,  there 
are  thousands  whose  ideas  of  its  origin  are  not 
far  removed  from  such  a  crude  notion.  For 
they  consider  that,  even  if  God  did  not  actually 
dictate  the  entire  contents  of  the  Bible  to  its  writ- 
ers, who  simply  acted  as  amanuenses  to  record 
what  they  were  bidden,  he  at  least  so  fully  and 
infallibly  inspired  and  controlled  the  writers  that 
they  were  mere  tools,  instruments,  writing-ma- 
chines, in  his  hand.  Accordingly  every  book, 
47 


48        NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

chapter,  paragraph,  verse,  sentence,  clause, 
phrase,  and  word  are  the  direct  gift  of  God  to 
the  children  of  men,  and  the  whole  Bible  is  the 
veritable  Word  of  God,  all  portions  of  it  are  of 
equal  value  and  authority,  and  whoever  denies 
any  single  part  of  it  virtually  denies  it  entirely, 
while  whoever  accepts  any  part  of  it  is  under 
obligation  to  accept  it  all.  This  is  that  doctrine 
of  the  so-called  "plenary"  (i.  e.,  full)  inspiration 
and  absolute  infallibility  of  the  Scriptures  which 
regards  them  not  merely  as  containing,  but  as 
being,  a  message  from  God  to  man,  which  is 
wholly  free  from  error,  whether  of  historical, 
scientific,  or  moral  character. 

Such,  in  brief,  is  the  general  conception  of 
the  Bible  that  has  prevailed  among  most  Prot- 
estants during  the  last  three  hundred  years, 
scarcely  yielding  to  even  the  slightest  modifica- 
tions until  within  the  last  half-century.  It  has 
dominated  the  theology  of  nearly  all  the  so- 
called  evangelical  churches;  it  has  characterized 
the  revival  efforts  which  they  have  so  often  put 
forth;  it  has  been  instilled  into  the  minds  of  the 
children  who  have  grown  up  in  them;  and  "for 
substance  of  doctrine"  it  still  lingers  in  the  belief 
of  the  great  majority  of  their  communicants, 
especially  the  less  educated  among  them.  The 
late  Dwight  L.  Moody  was  wont  to  declare  his 
acceptance  of  the  Bible  as  "the  Word  of  God  from 
back  to  back;"  and  in  1895  he  urged  Sunday- 


TRADITIONAL  VIEW  OF  THE  BIBLE        49 

school  teachers  to  "believe  the  Bible,  the  whole 
Bible,  with  every  fiber  of  the  body."  No  doubt 
such  a  muscular  faith  was  useful  in  moving  the 
multitudes  that  Mr.  Moody  was  accustomed  to 
gather,  and  he  was  unquestionably  sincere  in  his 
convictions;  yet  it  is  not  difficult  to  see  that  it 
was  his  Christian  devotion  and  rich  spiritual  ex- 
perience rather  than  his  idea  of  the  Bible  that 
really  made  him  the  noble  evangelist  he  was.  He 
might  have  been  equally  devoted  and  successful 
with  a  very  different  conception  of  the  Bible,  so 
far  as  its  formal  origin  was  concerned.  If, 
however,  Mr.  Moody  and  his  faith  and  his  mul- 
titudes may  be  considered  fairly  representative 
of  modern  orthodox  Protestantism,  I  am  jus- 
tified in  saying  that  the  view  I  have  stated,  al- 
though being  now  abandoned  or  qualified  by 
progressive  preachers  and  many  enlightened  lay- 
men in  the  great  communions  included  in  that 
designation,  is  still  the  prevalent  and  dominant 
view  in  the  rank  and  file  of  their  constituency. 
In  support  of  this  judgment  I  may  cite  the  dis- 
position of  the  case  of  Professor  Charles  A. 
Briggs,  resulting  in  his  suspension  from  the 
Presbyterian  ministry  because  he  taught,  among 
other  things  no  worse,  the  probable  "errancy" 
of  the  "original  autographs"  of  Holy  Scripture, 
supposing  they  could  ever  be  recovered ;  and  also 
the  opposition  which  manifested  itself,  briefly  but 
sharply,  to  his  ordination  in  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church. 


5o        NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Not  pausing  here  to  describe  the  grotesque 
features  of  this  conception  or  the  absurd  lengths 
to  which  it  has  sometimes  been  carried,  and  only 
remarking  that  it  is  substantially  inwrought,  like 
a  pattern,  into  the  warp  and  woof  of  nearly  all 
our  popular  religious  thought  and  work — by 
which  I  mean  the  hymns,  the  liturgies,  the  Sun- 
day-school instruction,  and  the  every-day  reli- 
gious conversation  of  the  masses  of  Protestant 
Christians — let  me  pass  to  inquire  how  it  arose 
and  gained  such  supremacy. 

There  have  been  three  principal  sources  of 
this  traditional  view. 

I.  Historically  it  antedates  Christianity.  As 
regards  the  Old  Testament,  the  mechanical  the- 
ory of  inspiration  and  revelation  prevailed  among 
the  Jews  during  the  last  two  or  three  centuries 
before  Christ;  and  it  was  naturally  carried  over 
into  the  Christian  era,  and  attached  itself  to  the 
New  Testament  writings  in  the  gradual  process 
of  their  canonization.1  In  fact,  similar  ideas  re- 
specting the  divine  source  of  written  and  spoken 
oracles  were  familiar  to  the  gentile  mind.  Yet 
it  was  not  until  after  the  great  rupture  known  as 
the  Protestant  Reformation  that  the  general  no- 
tion here  considered  assumed  its  rigid  modern 
form;  and  then  it  resulted  partly  from  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  period  and  partly  from  the  lack  of 

1  See  Professor  E.  C.  Moore,  The  New  Testament  in  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  p.  6;  also  G.  P.  Fisher,  History  of  Christian  Doc- 
trine, p.  75 ;  also  Hernack,  History  of  Dogma,  Vol.  II,  pp.  57  f. 


TRADITIONAL  VIEW  OF  THE  BIBLE         $1 

learning  among  the  people.  Previous  to  that 
time  all  Christians  in  western  Europe  had  been 
taught  to  regard  the  Catholic  church,  with  its 
head  at  Rome,  as  the  infallible  authority  and 
final  court  of  appeal  in  matters  of  faith  and 
morals;  and  when  the  Protestants  broke  with 
that  authority  and  court,  it  soon  became  neces- 
sary to  have  another,  in  order  to  determine  de- 
batable questions.  This  they  at  length  came  to 
find  in  the  Bible.  To  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments,  they  would  appeal,  and  not 
to  any  ecclesiastical  organization  or  power,  as 
the  supreme  tribunal  to  settle  all  disputed  points 
of  religious  teaching;  and  hence  the  right  of 
every  man  to  read  and  interpret  the  Bible  for 
himself,  without  dictation  from  church  or  clergy, 
became  the  great  boon  which  the  Reformation 
conferred  upon  the  liberated  portion  of  the  Chris- 
tian community  then  and  thenceforward.  This 
right,  the  right  of  private  judgment  in  matters  of 
faith  and  morals,  is  the  very  gist  of  Protestant- 
ism, lies  at  the  basis  of  modern  civil  liberty,  and 
is  the  one  radical,  vital,  and  permanent  opponent 
of  Roman  Catholicism. 

But,  at  the  time  of  which  I  am  speaking,  the 
masses  of  the  people,  and  to  a  great  extent  the 
ministers  of  religion,  and  even  many  of  the  uni- 
versity teachers,  were  poorly  prepared,  because 
of  deficient  scholarship,  to  understand  the  Bible 
correctly  and  to  use  it  properly.     To  be  sure, 


52        NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

learning  was  reviving  and  making  rapid  prog- 
ress; but  the  process  had  not  gone  far  enough  to 
reach  more  than  comparatively  a  few  of  the  lead- 
ers of  thought.  The  Scriptures  had  not  been  in 
general  circulation,  chiefly  perhaps  because  the 
art  of  printing  had  not  been  fully  developed 
yet,  and  the  Latin  Vulgate  was  the  only  transla- 
tion that  may  be  said  to  have  been  widely  known. 
Even  this  could  not  be  compared  with  the  ori- 
ginal until  Erasmus  published  (1516)  his  Greek 
Testament,  and  Cardinal  Ximenes,  a  Spanish 
scholar,  issued  (1514-17)  his  Hebrew,  Greek, 
and  Latin  versions  in  the  four  volumes  known 
as  the  "Complutensian  Polyglot ;"  for  the  study 
of  the  Greek  and  Hebrew  languages  had  not  re- 
vived sufficiently  to  enable  any  except  a  very 
few  to  read  the  Bible  in  the  original,  and  among 
even  the  best  educated  only  a  little  was  known 
about  the  text  and  the  various  ancient  manu- 
scripts. Besides,  there  was  hardly  any  physical 
science  worthy  of  the  name ;  philosophy  was  fan- 
ciful, airy,  eccentric,  and  arbitrary;  and  the  gen- 
eral history  of  antiquity,  of  Greece,  Egypt,  Per- 
sia, and  Assyria,  was  practically  a  sealed  book 
because  the  people  were  but  slightly  acquainted 
with  any  ancient  language  except  the  Latin. 
Under  all  these  circumstances  it  is  not  strange 
that  such  a  belief  respecting  the  Scriptures  as 
has  been  alluded  to  above  should  have  been  re- 
vived,  impressed  upon  the  popular  mind,   and 


TRADITIONAL  VIEW  OF  THE  BIBLE         53 

transmitted  down  to  us.  Yet  it  must  not  be  for- 
gotten that  it  took  on  its  extreme  shape  and  in- 
flexibility in  the  post-Reformation  period;  for 
Luther,  Calvin,  and  the  English  Reformers  were 
more  liberal  concerning  this  subject  than  their 
successors  of  a  generation  or  two  later;  and  it 
was  not  Until  about  the  beginning  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  that  bibliolatry,  the  undue,  un- 
natural, false  exaltation  of  the  Bible,  crystallized 
into  the  dogma  of  its  plenary  inspiration  and 
absolute  infallibility  that  has  held  such  wide  and 
powerful  sway  ever  since. 

2.  Another  source  of  the  view  referred  to  is 
the  idea  that  the  Bible  is  a  divine  revelation.  In 
a  general  way  this  idea  antedates  the  history 
which  I  have  just  sketched,  and  therefore  helped 
to  shape  it;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  it  has  been 
promoted  and  inculcated  by  that  history.  It  is 
an  easy  thing  to  say  that  the  Bible  is  a  divine 
revelation,  just  as  it  is  an  easy  thing  to  say  that 
the  pope  of  Rome  is  the  vicar  of  Christ;  and 
because  the  multitudes  of  people  do  not  think 
deeply  or  discriminatingly,  especially  concerning 
those  interests  that  are  called  supernatural,  it  is 
easy,  when  such  an  idea  or  claim  is  put  forth 
and  accompanied  by  real  and  great  merits,  to 
get  it  popularly  accepted.  One  may  almost  say 
that  there  exists  among  the  masses  of  mankind 
an  insatiable  appetite  for  striking  evidences  of 
supernatural  power;  so  that  whoever  comes  for- 


54        NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

ward  making  stupendous  pretensions,  with  any 
sort  of  show  to  support  them,  will  find  a  host  of 
followers;  indeed,  it  sometimes  seems  as  if  he 
who  can  make  the  biggest  claim,  and  can  fur- 
nish forth  the  most  imposing  array  of  spectac- 
ular adjuncts,  is  sure  of  the  largest  crowds  of 
adherents.  In  proof  of  this,  witness  the  actual 
deification  of  the  Roman  emperor  two  thousand 
years  ago ;  the  all  but  universal  belief  of  the  alli- 
ance of  exceptional  men  with  heaven ;  the  idealiz- 
ing and  idolizing  of  national  heroes ;  the  throngs 
that  gather  about  every  truly  great  leader;  the 
eager  looking  for  signs  and  wonders,  for  mir- 
acles and  marvels,  on  the  part  of  all  such;  the 
readiness  to  swallow  everything  they  say;  and 
the  remarkable  eclat  with  which  gorgeous  dis- 
plays of  power  and  glory,  whether  civil,  mili- 
tary, or  religious,  are  everywhere  received.  This 
is  an  evidence,  not  that  they  love  fictitious  values, 
although  a  cynic  might  say  they  do,  but  rather 
that  they  are  blindly  seeking  real  values;  and 
thus  it  is  a  pathetic  testimony  to  the  natural 
trustfulness  of  the  human  heart,  and  to  the  need 
of  the  light  of  knowledge  for  its  guidance. 

Now,  when  people  have  come,  through  what- 
soever influences,  to  believe  thoroughly  in  any 
set  of  writings  as  a  divine  revelation,  they  im- 
mediately begin  to  idolize  them  and  think  to 
exalt  them  by  regarding  them  as  free  from 
error.     In  this  way  those  who  have  called  the 


TRADITIONAL  VIEW  OF  THE  BIBLE         55 

Bible  a  divine  revelation  have  gone  so  far  as  to 
say  that  there  are  no  mistakes  or  blemishes  in 
it  of  any  sort,  whether  relating  to  fact,  to  qual- 
ity of  teaching,  or  to  style  of  composition,  or 
even  to  transmission;  indeed,  they  do  not  see 
how  there  can  be  any  such  if  it  is  really  the  "Word 
of  God" — it  must  be  absolutely  faultless  and  in- 
fallible. Hence  they  cannot  allow  any  correc- 
tion of  its  subject-matter,  or  even  any  alteration 
of  its  grammatical  form.  "It  is  impious  and  pro- 
fane audacity,"  said  Calovius,  "to  change  a  sin- 
gle point  in  the  Word  of  God,  and  to  substitute 
a  smooth  breathing  for  a  rough  one,  or  a  rough 
for  a  smooth."  Indeed,  when  it  was  found  out, 
in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  that 
the  Hebrew  Scriptures  were  originally  written  in 
consonants  alone,  and  the  vowels  were  added 
by  the  Masoretes  in  the  seventh  or  eighth  cen- 
tury, a  great  outcry  was  made  against  this  heret- 
ical fact  as  subversive  of  the  very  foundations 
of  Christianity,  and  it  took  a  hundred  years  to 
get  it  fairly  recognized.  People  positively  be- 
lieved that  those  vowel  points  were  given  by 
divine  inspiration ;  and  thus  the  idea  of  a  revela- 
tion from  God,  which  they  attached  to  the  Bible, 
carried  them  to  unreasonable  extremes  of  preju- 
dice. So  long  as  men  continue  to  hold  this  bald 
idea,  in  this  form  of  statement,  without  modifica- 
tion, they  will  retain  the  notion  of  the  Bible's 
uniformity  and  infallibility.     When  they  shall 


56        NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

learn  to  be  content  to  say  simply  that  the  Scrip- 
tures "contain  God's  true  Word,"  or  "contain  a 
revelation  of  the  character  of  God,"  etc.,  as  cer- 
tain Christian  bodies  have  already  done,  they 
will  have  held  fast  to  all  that  is  essential,  and 
will  have  made  an  immense  advance  toward  in- 
tellectual and  spiritual  liberty,  and  toward  a 
larger  and  deeper  religious  faith. 

3.  A  third  source  of  the  view  I  have  de- 
scribed lies  in  the  natural  veneration  and  affec- 
tions of  mankind.  There  is  really  so  much  that  is 
great  and  good  in  the  Bible,  and  does  help  so 
powerfully  and  blessedly  the  hungry  soul  that  re- 
sorts to  it  for  the  bread  of  life,  that  it  soon  be- 
comes very  dear  and  sacred  to  the  hearts  of  all 
such.  They  take  it  for  "the  man  of  their  coun- 
sel;" over  it  they  pour  out  their  prayers  of 
thanksgiving  and  supplication,  of  contrition  and 
bereavement,  of  peace  and  joy;  upon  its  pages 
fall  their  tears  like  rain,  as  they  bend  above  it  in 
the  trying  hours  of  life;  into  the  hands  of  dear 
friends  they  place  it,  as  they  go  away  out  into  a 
cold  and  sinful  world;  and  from  its  treasure- 
house  of  wisdom,  consolation,  and  sweet  beauty, 
they  cull  sentences  or  phrases  to  send  like  flowers 
to  absent  ones  who  gather  before  the  marriage 
altar,  or  around  the  funeral  bier,  or  at  the  do- 
mestic fireside;  nor  does  it  fail  to  enrich  and 
sanctify  them  in  all  these  holy  uses.  It  furnishes 
the  language  for  the  most  impressive  ceremonies 


TRADITIONAL  VIEW  OF  THE  BIBLE         57 

of  public  and  private  occasions  throughout 
Christendom;  its  words  are  the  carrier-pigeons 
that  bear  our  petitions  and  our  anthems  of  praise 
heavenward  in  our  services  of  stated  worship ;  its 
truths  give  us  our  texts  for  our  sermons,  and  its 
pregnant  utterances  drive  home  into  the  depths 
of  our  souls  the  lessons  of  righteousness  which 
we  so  much  need  to  learn.  No  other  book  in  all 
the  world  is  so  full  of  power,  sublimity,  and 
spirituality;  no  other  ever  came  out  of  such 
depths  of  moral  and  religious  experience ;  and  no 
other  can  reach,  in  such  varied  and  effective 
ways,  the  manifold  needs  of  the  human  heart. 
Therefore  those  who  know  somewhat  of  its  sur- 
passing merits,  who  have  learned  by  experience 
to  understand  and  appreciate  its  ability  to  help 
them,  cannot  but  hold  it  dear  and  sacred.  It  be- 
comes enshrined  in  their  affections,  and  while 
they  thank  God  for  so  precious  a  gift,  they  be- 
seech him  to  guard  and  bless  its  holy  mission 
among  all  the  children  of  men. 

Now  this  veneration  of  the  Bible,  which  in  it- 
self is  appropriate,  beautiful,  and  profitable,  and 
which  no  man  should  wantonly  weaken,  serves 
to  confirm,  establish,  and  perpetuate  a  false  in- 
tellectual view  of  it,  if  such  a  view  be  prevalent 
and  if  there  be  but  little  enlightenment.  If  a  per- 
son who  has  not  been  educated  to  think  broadly 
and  discriminatingly — and  it  is  a  bane  of  sectari- 
anism that  it  often  educates  people  in  just  the 


58         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

opposite  way — conceives  of  the  Bible  as  a  divine 
revelation,  which  is  all  of  one  piece,  fully  in- 
spired and  wholly  infallible,  and  then  comes  to 
attach  himself  to  it  through  his  moral  and  spir- 
itual affections,  in  some  such  manner  as  I  have 
indicated,  he  is  almost  sure  either  to  cling  to  the 
dogma  in  all  its  rigidity,  and  so  dwarf  his  intel- 
lect, or  to  shock  his  faith  and  disturb  his  peace 
in  attempting  to  gain  a  more  rational  concep- 
tion of  the  nature,  structure,  and  true  worth  of 
the  Scriptures.  More  likely  it  will  be  the  former 
of  these  processes  that  he  will  go  through.  For 
he  cannot  bear  to  hear  anything  said  against  the 
Bible,  and  he  construes  everything  that  does  not 
support  his  view  as  being  thus  said,  and  he  will 
not  listen  to  it.  So  he  intrenches  and  fortifies 
himself  in  his  ignorance,  shuts  the  light  of  addi- 
tional truth  out  of  his  mind  and  vainly  imagines  he 
is  loyally  defending  the  holy  things  of  God,  while 
others  are  proving  themselves  apostates,  who  are 
seeing  higher,  larger,  clearer,  grander  things  in 
the  good  old  Book  that  is  as  dear  to  them  as  to 
him.  To  such  a  one  we  must  say,  as  best  we 
can,  that  the  spiritual  quality  of  a  writing,  no 
matter  what  that  writing  may  be,  in  nowise  de- 
termines the  date  and  authorship  of  other  miscel- 
laneous writings  which  are  bound  up  with  it,  and 
may  not  go  far  in  determining  even  its  own  date 
and  authorship.  The  fact  that  so  many  of  the 
Psalms  help  you  by  voicing  the  deeper  thoughts 


TRADITIONAL  VIEW  OF  THE  BIBLE         59 

and  feelings  of  the  soul,  in  exalted  and  beautiful 
language,  does  not  decide  whether  David  or 
somebody  else  wrote  them;  that  is  a  question 
which  other  lines  of  evidence  must  settle.  A 
true  poem  is  a  poem,  even  though  it  be  utterly 
fugitive,  so  that  no  man  can  tell  when  it  was 
written  or  by  whom.  So  it  is  with  the  books  of 
the  Bible;  they  are  good  and  helpful,  and  we  are 
all  justified  in  venerating  and  loving  them;  but 
our  affection  for  them  cannot  pronounce  as  to 
their  historic  veracity,  and  certainly  cannot  prove 
them  to  be  of  miraculous  origin. 

Such  are  some  of  the  main  sources  of  the 
traditional  view  of  the  Bible — the  peculiar  con- 
ditions of  the  post-Reformation  period,  the  in- 
fluence of  the  idea  of  a  divine  revelation,  and  the 
strength  of  the  natural  sentiments  of  veneration 
and  affection. 

Now  what  shall  be  said  of  this  view  ?  A  can- 
did student  must  admit  that  it  has  served  some 
good  purposes.  It  has  undoubtedly  secured  a 
degree  of  attention  to  the  Bible  which  no  other 
view  could  have  obtained  for  it  in  the  age  and 
stage  of  culture  in  which  it  has  prevailed.  A 
more  advanced  conception  could  not  be  appre- 
ciated until  a  larger  knowledge  of  many  things 
— especially  of  history,  ethnology,  comparative 
language  and  religion,  as  well  as  the  develop- 
ment of  theology  and  ecclesiastical  institutions — 
had  prepared  the  way  for  it.     If,  therefore,  this 


60         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

view  had  not  existed,  the  Bible  would  probably 
have  been  neglected,  and  the  mighty  moral  and 
religious  energy  which  it  has  imparted  to  our 
western  civilization  would  have  been  sadly  want- 
ing. It  is  much  to  say  for  any  idea  or  social 
custom  that  it  has  served  its  own  time  even  fairly 
well ;  it  is  from  this  standpoint  alone  that  we  can 
judge  justly  of  men  and  measures,  of  doctrines 
and  institutions;  and,  thus  regarded,  we  must 
concede  that  the  traditional  view  of  the  Bible  has 
been  natural,  or  at  least  inevitable,  and  has  con- 
tributed not  a  little  to  produce  the  very  condi- 
tions under  which  it  is  now  being  outgrown. 

Nevertheless,  considered  with  reference  to  the 
present  age,  it  has  been,  or  is  now,  an  unfortu- 
nate view;  it  has  been  narrow,  and  therefore 
cramping  to  the  human  mind;  it  has  been  rigid, 
and  therefore  has  allowed  little  room  for  prog- 
ress on  the  part  of  those  holding  it — so  much  so, 
indeed,  that  nearly  all  progress  under  it  has  had 
to  bear  the  stigma  of  heresy ;  it  has  begotten  bib- 
liolatry,  and  therefore  has  made  the  Bible  a 
fetich;  it  has  fixed  the  attention  of  men  upon 
the  letter  of  Scripture,  and  therefore  has  shut 
out  the  influence  of  the  spirit ;  and  by  putting  the 
human  soul  in  bondage  to  a  thing,  it  has  kept  it 
from  the  free  service  of  the  one  living  and  true 
God. 

It  may  be  well  to  supplement  this  general 
criticism  with  some  specifications  as  to  the  bad 


TRADITIONAL  VIEW  OF  THE  BIBLE         61 

effects  which  the  view  here  rejected  has  pro- 
duced. 

i.  It  has  been  an  obstacle  to  the  advance  of 
learning.  Not  to  go  back  farther  than  the  mem- 
ory of  living  men  reaches,  it  is  known  to  all  in- 
telligent people  that  the  teachings  of  modern 
geology  have  been  opposed,  and  their  promulga- 
tion resisted,  because  of  their  conflict  with  the 
account  of  creation  given  in  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis — and  how  ludicrous  have  been  the  at- 
tempts to  harmonize  them  with  that  account! — 
that  for  the  same  reason  the  theory  of  evolution, 
now  accepted  in  some  form  by  nearly  all  scien- 
tists, has  been  scouted,  and  its  adherents  put 
under  ban,  even  to  the  extent  of  having  their 
professional  positions  disturbed,  if  not  forcibly 
taken  from  them;  and  that  the  science  of  histor- 
ical and  literary  criticism,  of  which  biblical 
criticism  is  a  branch,  has  been  reproached  and  ridi- 
culed, and  some  of  its  disciples  likewise  driven 
from  their  honored  places,  because  the  results 
reached  by  such  study  have  not  harmonized  with 
the  traditional  conception  of  Scripture.  All  these 
things  have  occurred  under  our  own  eyes,  and 
some  of  them  are  still  occurring  in  these  opening 
years  of  the  twentieth  century.  Yet  it  is  nothing 
new  under  the  sun;  for,  fifteen  hundred  years 
ago,  St.  Jerome  had  to  meet  much  the  same  sort 
of  opposition;  so  did  Columbus,  Galileo,  and 
Copernicus,  and  a  host  of  other  seekers  after 


62         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

truth.     It  is  simply  a  phase  of  human  ignorance 
and  bigotry,  but  it  is  a  sorry  spectacle.2 

2.  It  has  sanctioned,  supported,  and  perpet- 
uated erroneous  ideas  and  evil  practices.  Take, 
for  instance,  the  doctrine  of  the  second  coming 
of  Christ  and  the  end  of  the  world ;  how  strangely 
persistent  this  has  been,  and  what  fantastic  forms 
it  has  assumed!  yet  it  would  have  died  out  long 
ago  but  for  this  wrong  view  of  the  Bible.  The 
same  is  true  of  the  doctrine  of  endless  punish- 
ment. Or  take  slavery,  capital  punishment,  and 
the  subjection  of  woman — all  relics  of  paganism; 
how  long  have  these  hoary  evils  been  buttressed 
by  quotations  from  Scripture,  that  never  would 
have  been  used  thus  except  for  such  an  extreme 
notion  about  its  divine  authority  as  I  have  com- 
bated! In  recent  years  the  great  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  has  been  struggling  over 
the  question  of  the  ordination  of  women  to 
the  ministry,  which  is  strongly  opposed  be- 
cause Paul  said  to  Timothy:  "I  suffer  not  a 
woman  to  teach,  nor  to  usurp  authority  over  the 
man,  but  to  be  in  silence."  3  Even  the  liquor- 
dealers  have  not  scrupled  to  quote  the  words  of 
the  same  noble  apostle,  since  they  happened  to 
find  out  that  he  said  to  the  same  young  man: 


2  The  reader  who  cares  to  look  farther  into  this  subject  may 
consult  with  much  profit  Dr.  Andrew  D.  White's  Warfare  of 
Science    xvith    Christian    Theology,    a    vols. 

•  I  Tim.  ii.  u. 


TRADITIONAL  VIEW  OF  THE  BIBLE         63 

"Drink  no  longer  water,  but  take  a  little  wine 
for  thy  stomach's  sake."  4 

3.  This  traditional  view  involves  such  bond- 
age to  the  letter  as  to  prevent  spiritual  growth. 
Paul  said  that  "the  letter  killeth,  but  the  spirit 
giveth  life."  When  a  religion  begins  to  die,  it 
begins  to  get  hard  and  dry,  like  a  tree  that  is 
going  through  the  same  process.  Or,  like  an  old 
Egyptian  king,  who,  knowing  his  end  was  near, 
began  to  build  a  mausoleum  to  receive  his  re- 
mains ;  a  religion  that  is  already  moribund  begins 
straightway  to  make  its  casket  and  hew  out 
its  tomb,  begins  to  encase  itself  in  some  outward 
shell  of  rite,  or  dogma,  or  institution,  or  sacred 
book.  For  proof,  read  the  history  of  religion  in 
India,  in  Judea,  in  imperial  Rome,  in  mediaeval 
Europe. 

4.  Still  another  fault  chargeable  to  this  view 
is  that  it  disregards  all  progress  of  ideas  in  the 
Bible,  and  obliterates  all  distinctions  between 
good  and  bad  in  the  quality  of  its  various  writ- 
ings. By  teaching  that  it  is  all  of  one  piece,  and 
all  the  Word  of  God,  it  leaves  no  room  for 
thinking  that  the  ideas  set  forth  in  Genesis  may 
not  be  so  exalted  or  true  as  those  contained  in 
Isaiah  or  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount;  and  it  like- 
wise forbids  us  to  suppose  that  the  moral  pre- 
cepts of  the  Proverbs  and  Ecclesiastes  may  not  in 
some  instances  be  just  as  noble  and  pure  as  the 

*  Ibid.,  v.  23. 


64        NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

ethics  of  Jesus  or  Paul  or  John.  But,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  there  are  wide  differences  in  these  re- 
spects, both  intellectually  and  morally;  there  is 
a  progress  in  thought  from  the  days  of  the  old 
Hebrew  patriarchs  to  those  of  the  later  proph- 
ets, and  there  is  an  advance  in  moral  standards 
from  the  time  of  Solomon  to  that  of  Christ. 
Now  what  can  be  more  important  than  to  teach 
ourselves  and  our  children  to  see  these  distinc- 
tions, between  high  and  low,  between  good  and 
bad,  between  true  and  false,  between  right  and 
wrong,  wherever  they  really  exist,  in  human  life, 
in  literature,  in  art,  in  philosophy?  Is  not  this 
the  main  object  of  all  our  teaching,  to  see  and 
choose  and  love  the  true,  the  beautiful,  and  the 
good,  as  distinguished  from  their  opposites?  But 
the  traditional  conception  of  the  Bible  tends  to 
blunt  our  sensibilities  in  this  respect;  and  we 
jumble  together  the  notions  and  maxims  of  old 
shepherd-kings  and  warriors  with  the  sweet 
spiritual  visions  and  principles  of  the  blessed 
Christ,  and  call  them  all,  indiscriminately,  the 
Word  of  God !  Then  we  teach  them  to  our  chil- 
dren, as  all  of  equal  value  and  authority;  and 
can  we  wonder  that  the  children  are  confused, 
unenlightened,  unawakened,  untouched? 

5.  Such  a  view  of  the  Bible  opens  the  way  for 
all  the  vagaries  and  falsehoods  of  an  irrespon- 
sible exegesis.  It  makes  the  Book  an  arsenal  oi 
proof-texts,   by   the   dexterous    employment   of 


TRADITIONAL  VIEW  OF  THE  BIBLE         65 

which  almost  any  conceivable  doctrine  can  be 
supported.  By  picking  out  a  verse  or  sentence 
from  one  part  of  the  Bible,  and  other  verses  or 
sentences  from  other  parts,  and  then  skilfully 
piecing  them  together,  without  any  reference  to 
their  contexts  or  their  historical  origin  and  the 
real  meaning  of  their  authors,  one  can  prove  the 
most  baseless  and  pernicious  of  theories.  Then 
when  the  imagination  is  given  free  reins,  and 
the  allegorizing  method  of  interpretation  is  car- 
ried to  extremes,  as  was  the  case  in  the  later  cen- 
turies of  Judaism  and  the  early  centuries  of 
Christianity,  and  even  among  the  Greeks,5  ut- 
terly fantastic  results  ensue.  For  example, 
"when  we  are  told  that  Rebecca  comes  to  draw 
water  at  the  well  and  so  meets  the  servant  of 
Abraham,  the  meaning  is,  according  to  Origen, 
that  we  must  daily  come  to  the  wells  of  Scripture 
in  order  to  meet  with  Christ."  6  Another,  "com- 
menting on  Genesis  15:9,  explains  'the  calf,  the 
goat,  and  the  ram  of  three  years'  in  Abraham's 
sacrifices  to  mean  his  soul,  his  sentient  faculty, 
and  his  mind." 7  Innumerable  instances  of  a 
similar  character  might  be  cited  to  show  how 
this  general  idea  of  Scripture  and  these  arbi- 
trary methods  of  interpretation,  misleading  even 
so  great  a  teacher  as  the  illustrious  Origen,  have 

6  Consult    with    great    profit    Farrar's    History    of   Interpretation 
(Appleton,   1886),  Lectures  ii,  iii,  and  iv. 

9  Ibid.,  p.    199. 

7  Ibid.,  p.  201. 


66        NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

begotten  among  lesser  minds  a  narrow  dogma- 
tism that  has  engendered  harsh,  bitter,  disastrous 
controversies. 

6.  Finally,  such  a  view  breaks  down  at  length 
from  its  own  weight.  When  you  claim  that  the 
Bible  is  a  divine  revelation  throughout,  fully  in- 
spired and  infallible,  you  make  a  stupendous 
claim.  In  logic  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  prove 
a  universal  negative;  but  this  is  exactly  what  is 
undertaken  when  one  contends  that  the  Bible 
is  absolutely  without  error.  Presently  the  dis- 
covery is  made  that  errors  are  actually  to  be 
found  within  its  pages — mistakes,  discrepancies, 
imperfections  which  simply  cannot  be  reconciled 
with  this  theory:  what  happens?  A  distinct 
shock  to  faith  and  morals  is  immediately  felt, 
from  which,  alas!  many  do  not  recover.  The 
Bible  seems  no  longer  of  any  worth,  on  the  very 
basis  upon  which  it  has  stood;  for  it  has  been 
said  to  be  all  of  one  piece,  and  if  false  in  one  par- 
ticular, is  false  in  all  others.  This  is  precisely 
what  has  frequently  occurred  in  recent  years; 
men  have  thrown  the  Bible  and  the  church  and 
religion  to  the  winds,  sometimes  along  with 
moral  restraints,  because  they  had  been  taught 
that  the  Bible  was  an  infallible  revelation  of 
divine  truth,  not  only  in  its  spirit  but  also  in  its 
letter,  and  they  have  learned  in  the  common 
school  that  its  ideas  on  some  matters — for  in- 
stance, the  history  of  creation — are  erroneous. 


TRADITIONAL  VIEW  OF  THE  BIBLE         67 

Here  is  the  danger  for  thousands  of  people,  that 
they  will  let  go  everything  connected  with  Chris- 
tianity— its  holy  sanctions,  its  sublime  ideals,  its 
wonderful  inspirations  and  consolations — when 
this  fabric  of  unreasonable  notions  about  the  Sa- 
cred Book  collapses,  as  it  is  doing  and  will  con- 
tinue to  do.8 

From  the  foregoing  reflections  it  would  seem 
evident  that  there  must  be  a  better  view  of  the 
Bible,  more  rational,  natural,  simple,  heart-satis- 
fying. I  am  absolutely  sure  that  there  is  such  a 
better  view,  which  saves  all  the  excellences  of 
Scripture  and  frees  us  from  all  its  defects ;  and  it 
will  be  a  delight  to  try  to  set  it  forth  in  succeed- 
ing chapters. 

8  It  was  exactly  such  a  conception  of  the  Bible,  involving  such 
an  issue,  that  gave  the  late  Colonel  Robert  G.  Ingersoll  his  occu- 
pation as  an  opponent  of  the  Christian  religion. 


CHAPTER  III 

WHAT  IS   BIBLICAL   CRITICISM? 

At  least  a  primary  knowledge  of  the  nature 
and  service  of  biblical  criticism  is  indispensable 
to  a  proper  understanding  of  the  better  conception 
of  Scripture  of  which  we  are  in  pursuit.  There- 
fore, before  we  can  go  forward  into  the  larger 
thought,  the  deeper  faith,  and  the  more  vital 
spirituality  which  wait  to  reward  our  study,  we 
must  try  to  learn  some  simple  lessons  in  this 
important  matter.  A  brief,  untechnical  explana- 
tion of  the  need,  the  history,  the  methods,  and  the 
purpose  of  this  fruitful  branch  of  modern  learn- 
ing may  best  enable  the  general  reader  to  form  a 
clear  idea  of  the  work  of  the  scholars  and  of  its 
true  significance. 

If  one  were  about  to  visit  London,  Paris,  Ber- 
lin, and  Rome,  he  would  probably  procure  a 
guide-book  of  foreign  travel,  or  perhaps  join 
some  "personally-conducted"  excursion  party; 
and  he  might  like  also  to  know  in  advance  what- 
ever he  could  learn  from  history,  language;  lit- 
erature, and  art  respecting  those  places  and  their 
people.  Why?  Because  the  information  thus  ob- 
tained would  so  introduce  those  cities  to  the  trav- 
eler as  to  prepare  him  to  derive  the  most  enjoy- 
ment and  profit  from  his  tour.  It  is  much  the 
same  with  the  Bible ;  it  needs  to  be  introduced  to 

68 


WHAT  IS  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM?  69 

one's  study  by  preliminary  explanations  of  its 
origin  and  character.  The  student  must  wander 
somewhat  aimlessly  through  its  pages,  bewildered 
by  its  strange  and  multiform  contents,  without 
previous  instruction  concerning  the  land  and  the 
people  that  gave  it  birth,  concerning  its  structure 
and  history,  and  concerning  the  representative 
opinions  which  have  been  held  regarding  its  place 
and  value.  In  other  words,  there  is  need  of 
what  is  technically  called  "An  Introduction  to 
the  Study  of  the  Scriptures,"  seeking  to  impart 
the  requisite  information  to  qualify  one  to  ap- 
proach the  Bible  with  a  correct  preconception 
as  to  its  nature  and  worth. 

Now,  partly  out  of  the  attempt  to  meet  this 
need,  partly  out  of  the  effort  to  satisfy  the  crav- 
ing for  accurate  and  complete  knowledge,  for 
its  own  sake,  and  partly  out  of  the  wish  to  defend 
cherished,  sacred  beliefs,  there  has  grown  up  the 
science  of  biblical  criticism.  Actuated  by  curi- 
osity, the  love  of  truth,  or  a  deep  piety,  men 
have  wanted  to  learn  all  they  could  about  the 
Bible — its  origin,  language,  transmission,  diffu- 
sion, interpretation,  and  intrinsic  merits.1  There- 

1  "Two  kinds  of  piety  join  their  forces  to  press  upon  us 
the  duty  of  knowing  the  Bible  intimately.  The  first  is  the  his- 
torical spirit,  a  true  kind  of  piety,  in  that  it  bids  us  know  the 
words  and  deeds  of  the  men  of  the  past,  because  of  their  intrin- 
sic worth  and  meaning.  The  second  is  the  piety  of  the  Christian, 
which  bids  us  search  the  Scriptures  because  they  have  a  deeper 
root  in  human  experience  than  any  other  book,  and  because 
they  speak  home  to  our  hearts  as  no  other  book  can.  The 
scientific    motive    demands    the    original     facts    and    thoughts    of 


70         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

fore  they  have  bent  themselves  to  make  every  in- 
quiry that  might  throw  the  least  bit  of  light  upon 
the  various  problems  with  which  they  have  dealt, 
some  of  them  of  the  minutest  character;  and  by 
all  these  labors,  prolonged  and  patient,  there  has 
been  built  up  a  large  department  of  learning 
which  may  be  properly  called  a  science  because 
it  has  its  specialized  workers,  its  vast  accumula- 
tion of  facts,  its  definite  and  reliable  methods  of 
procedure,  and  its  verified  results  that  are  of 
great  value.  As  such  a  department,  it  is  merely 
a  particular  field  of  research  lying  within  the  do- 
main of  historical  and  literary  criticism  in  gen- 
eral, to  which  we  are  indebted  for  practically 
all  our  trustworthy  knowledge  of  the  past.  Thus 
it  appears  that  biblical  criticism  is  simply  one  of 
the  sisterhood  of  modern  sciences;  and  surely, 
when  we  understand  her  true  mission,  we  shall 
feel  that  her  presence  is  benign  and  shall  rejoice 
to  do  her  grateful  and  loving  homage. 

The  word  criticism  denotes,  primarily,  a 
judgment,  or  an  act  of  judging;  its  derivation 
from  a  Greek  verb  (/cp£va>)  meaning  to  discern, 
or  to  try,  or  to  piss  judgment  upon,  or  to 
determine,  gives  it  this  signification.  As  applied 
to  literary  matters,  it  conveys  the  idea,  not  of 
fault-finding,  but  of  fairly  and  justly  estimating 

Scripture,  distinct  and  separate  from  subsequent  opinion  regarding 
Scripture.  The  religious  motive  demands  the  Word  of  God  in  its 
pristine  beauty.  The  two  motives  are  at  one." — Professor  H.  S. 
Nash,   The  History  of  the  Higher  Criticism,  p.  5. 


WHAT  IS  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM?  71 

both  merits  and  defects.  In  other  words,  it  is 
simply  an  impartial  judgment,  or  as  nearly  such 
as  the  given  critic  can  render,  on  whatever  ques- 
tion is  under  consideration. 

Plainly,  then,  biblical  criticism  is  merely  the 
science  and  art  of  understanding  the  Scriptures. 
One  must  understand  them  in  order  to  appreci- 
ate them,  that  is,  to  judge  them  in  strict  truth. 
But  no  one  fully  understands  the  Scriptures  who 
does  not  know  all  he  can  about  them ;  and  in  this 
sense,  of  course,  nobody  can  be  said  to  have  an 
absolutely  perfect  comprehension  of  them.  The 
little  school-boy  who  can  barely  pronounce  the 
words  on  the  printed  page  does  not  really  read 
his  book;  he  will  read  it  only  when  he  learns  to 
grasp  the  thought  contained  in  the  language. 
But  who  best  lays  hold  of  the  thought  of  a  writ- 
er? Clearly,  he  who  knows  most  about  the  cir- 
cumstances and  influences  that  contributed  to  the 
production  of  the  work  in  question^  together 
with  the  truest  sympathy  with  the  author's  spirit 
or  peculiar  characteristics.  The  same  principle 
holds  in  music,  in  art,  in  oratory,  in  literature 
generally;  and  he  who  gives  the  most  perfect 
interpretation  of  a  great  work,  in  any  of  these 
departments  of  human  life,  is  hailed  as  a  genius 
and  becomes  a  real  helper  of  his  fellow-men.  It 
is  quite  so  in  biblical  matters;  he  is  the  best  in- 
terpreter of  the  Sacred  Writings  who  enters 
most  fully  into  the  thought  and  spirit  of  their 


72         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

respective  authors;  and  he  alone  can  do  this  who 
possesses,  among  other  qualifications,  a  large 
amount  of  accurate  knowledge  concerning  the 
times  in  which  they  wrote  and  the  interests  they 
sought  to  subserve.  Thus  biblical  criticism  be- 
comes simply  a  preparation  for  appreciating  the 
Scriptures.2 

Such  preparation  requires  two  things:  (i) 
a  knowledge  of  the  historical  conditions  under 
which  the  authors  of  the  Bible  wrote,  so  far  as 
these  can  be  reproduced  to  thought;  and  (2)  a 
knowledge  of  exactly  what  they  wrote,  as  nearly 
as  this  can  be  ascertained.  Hence  biblical  cri- 
ticism naturally  divides  itself  into  two  branches, 
called  the  Lower  or  Textual,  and  the  Higher  or 
Literary.3 

L  The  Lower  Criticism  has  to  do  with  the 
text  of  Scripture.  A  brief  account  has  been  given 
in  the  first  chapter  of  the  way  in  which  the 

2  "We  define  criticism,  therefore,  as  that  mental  process  in 
modern  Christianity  whereby  the  historic  character,  the  true  na- 
ture, of  divine  revelation  is  appreciated  and  manifested.  This  his- 
toric spirit,  the  desire  to  know  the  whole  past  even  as  it  was  in 
itself,  comes  in  as  a  noble  servant  raised  up  by  God  to  help  the 
Church   to   truly   know    her    Bible,    and   thus   pay   her    debt   to   the 

Author    of    Sacred    Scripture The   well-being   of   the    Church 

depends  upon  the  right  interpretation  of  the  Bible.  We  must 
seek  to  know  it  from  within  and  along  the  lines  of  its  own  mean- 
ing and  purpose.  That  is  our  most  sacred  obligation." — Nash, 
History  of  the  Higher  Criticism,  pp.   14,   15. 

8  "Criticism,  in  its  earliest  stage,  took  the  form  of  text  criti- 
cism. When,  at  a  more  advanced  stage,  it  entered  upon  the  inner 
study  of  Scripture,  it  called  itself  'higher'  in  order  to  distinguish 
itself  from  the  criticism  of  the  text  as  a  'lower,'  or  preparatory 
form  of  study.  The  adjective  is  the  result  of  a  bare  historical 
incident." — Nash,    op.    cit.,   pp.    12,    13. 


WHAT  IS  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM?  73 

writings  of  the  Bible  came  down  to  us.  Previous 
to  the  fifteenth  century  the  only  mode  of  trans- 
mission was  that  of  hand-made  copies.  But  it  is 
evident  that  such  copies  could  not  be  produced, 
by  different  persons,  at  different  times,  and  in 
different  countries,  without  a  multitude  of  errors 
creeping  into  them.  It  is  now  known  that,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  many  thousands  of  such  errors 
did  actually  occur,  first  and  last;  that  is  to  say, 
the  different  manuscripts,  large  and  small.,  at 
present  known  to  exist,  show  a  vast  number  of 
various  readings,  running  all  the  way  from  a 
single  letter,  or  even  an  accent  or  a  breathing, 
to  a  word,  a  phrase,  a  sentence,  or  a  paragraph. 
Of  the  New  Testament  alone,  3,829  manuscripts 
— some  of  them,  to  be  sure,  only  little  fragments 
— had  been  catalogued  by  the  year  19014  It  is 
not  surprising,  therefore,  to  learn  that  the  "var- 
iants" in  all  these  amount  to  a  total  of  150,000 
or  more.  Of  course  the  great  majority  of  such 
differences  are  extremely  slight,  and  do  not  ma- 
terially affect  any  important  fact  or  truth;  but 
others  are  of  more  serious  consequence.  It  is 
neither  possible  nor  desirable  to  discuss  these 
here,  but  it  is  well  for  the  reader  to  see  how  such 
variations  have  arisen. 

Even  the  mechanical  process  of  printing  does 
not  always  insure  the  publication  and  transmis- 

4  See   E.    Nestle,   Introduction   to   the   Textual  Criticism   of  the 
New  Testament  (1901),  p.  34,  translated  by  William  Edie. 


74        NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

sion  of  an  author's  exact  words,  as  witness  the 
various  readings  of  many  passages  in  Shake- 
speare's writings.  Much  more  liable  to  variation 
must  be  hand-made  copies  of  a  literary  work,  es- 
pecially when  frequently  produced  in  the  course 
of  several  centuries.  The  original  "autographs" 
of  the  biblical  books,  that  is,  those  bearing  the 
signatures  of  their  authors,  undoubtedly  perished 
completely  long  ago.  They  were  written  upon 
papyrus,  which  was  both  fragile  and  bulky,  and 
which  was  subject,  not  only  to  the  wear  of  much 
handling,  but  also  to  the  disintegrating  influences 
of  most  climates.5  True,  the  dry  climate  and 
soil  of  Egypt  have  preserved  to  the  present  day 
many  papyri  far  older  than  the  Christian  era, 
and  there  always  remains  the  bare  possibility 
that  a  rich  biblical  "find"  may  yet  be  exhumed 
m  that  region;  but  all  hopes  in  this  direction 
must  be  of  the  feeblest  character.  The  use  of 
papyrus  for  the  Scriptures  was  gradually  dis- 
continued, being  superseded  by  parchment  at 
about  the  close  of  the  third  century.6       Now, 

•  For  an  instructive  and  quite  detailed  account  of  these  mat- 
ters, see  Frederic  G.  Kenyon's  Handbook  to  the  Textual  Criti- 
cism of  the  New  Testament  (Macmillan,  1901),  chap,  ii;  also  Nestle, 
op.  cit.,  chap,  ii;  also  Julichcr,  An  Introduction  to  the  New  Tes- 
tament,   pp.    576-88;    translation,    Putnams,    1904. 

The  entire  New  Testament  on  papyrus,  even  if  written  in  a 
small  hand  and  with  narrow  margins,  would  have  made  a  roll  about 
300  feet  in  length;  "the  Gospel  of  St.  Mark  would  occupy  about 
19  feet,  that  of  St.  John  23  feet,  6  inches,  St.  Matthew  30  feet, 
the  Acts  and  St.  Luke's  Gospel  about  31  or  32  feet." — Kenyon, 
op.   cit. 

•  "Jerome    tells    us    that    between    340    and    380    the    bishops    of 


WHAT  IS  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM?  75 

parchment  was  an  expensive  material.  This 
fact  necessitated  the  utilization  of  every  sheet 
and  led  naturally  to  the  crowding  of  each  page. 
In  some  instances  different  works  were  joined 
in  the  same  manuscript,  in  order  to  avoid  wast- 
ing valuable  space;  and  in  others,  more  rarely, 
an  early  writing,  deemed  of  less  worth,  was 
erased  and  a  subsequent  production  inscribed  in 
its  place.  Occasionally  it  has  been  possible,  by 
the  use  of  chemicals,  to  restore  the  former  com- 
position. Thus  the  costliness  of  parchment  and 
the  manner  of  its  use  opened  the  way  for  errors 
to  creep  into  the  successive  copies  of  the  biblical 
manuscripts,  while  the  greater  frequency  with 
which  the  papyrus  rolls  had  to  be  reproduced  in- 
creased the  liability  to  variations  in  their  case. 
Besides,  as  regards  the  New  Testament  writings 
particularly,  they  were  not  at  first  considered 
sacred  and  precious,  and  nobody  had  any  idea 
of  their  preservation  and  circulation  for  hun- 
dreds of  years;  therefore,  no  such  pains  were 
taken  in  transcribing  them  as  attached  to  the 
copying  of  the  Old  Testament  books,  or  even 
the  Greek  classics. 

Again,  the  ancient  mode  of  writing  was  to 
run  the  letters  and  words  close  together,  without 

Caesarea  saved  the  library  formed  in  that  place  by  Origen  and 
Pamphilus  from  decay  by  laboriously  transcribing  everything  it 
contained  on  to  parchment.  Thus  the  greater  part  of  this  library 
must  originally  have  consisted  of  papyrus  rolls,  and  we  may  prob- 
ably consider  the  period  about  300  as  that  of  the  general  transi- 
tion to  the  use  of  parchment" — Julicher,  op.  cit.,  p.  576 


76         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

separation  or  punctuation.  Let  one  imagine  him- 
self confronted  with  even  a  printed  page  having 
no  spaces  between  the  words  and  no  punctuation 
marks,  and  set  to  copy  it  or  to  translate  it; 
would  he  be  likely  to  do  it  without  a  single  mis- 
take? Furthermore,  in  the  case  of  the  Old 
Testament,  the  Hebrew  was  originally  written 
without  vowels.  Let  one  imagine  himself,  again, 
confronted  with  a  printed  page  of  English  hav- 
ing all  the  vowels  removed  and  the  consonants 
crowded  close  together;  would  it  be  easy  to  sup- 
ply those  vowels  by  simply  depending  upon  one's 
own  judgment  as  to  what  they  ought  to  be,  and 
then  to  transcribe  or  to  translate  the  writing 
without  error?  Yet  such  is  a  true  hint  of  the 
way  in  which  our  Old  Testament  Scriptures 
have  reached  us.  In  view  of  these  facts  and  the 
possibilities  of  deviation  which  they  suggest,  the 
marvel  is  that  the  books  of  the  Bible  have  been 
preserved  and  transmitted  with  so  little  corrup- 
tion as  has  actually  taken  place. 

The  different  kinds  or  classes  of  errors  occur- 
ring in  the  process  of  making  numerous  copies 
of  the  Scriptures,  under  the  general  condi- 
tions thus  described,  may  be  barely  mentioned 
here,  but  can  hardly  be  illustrated  by  specific  ex- 
amples.7    Some  arose  from  a  mere  slip  of  the 

7  For  a  minute  exhibit  of  some  of  these,  the  reader  may  con- 
sult the  works  already  cited;  for  instance,  Kenyon,  Our  Bible  and 
the  Ancient  Manuscripts,  chap,  i;  also  his  Textual  Criticism  of  the 
New  Testament,  pp.  7  f .;  also  particularly  Julicher,  Pt.  Ill,  chap.  U, 
§Si. 


WHAT  IS  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM?  77 

pen,  by  which  one  letter  or  syllable  was  substi- 
tuted for  another;  some,  by  the  accidental  omis- 
sion of  a  word  or  a  line.  Occasionally  margi- 
nal notes  were  later  copied  into  the  text;  and 
parallel  passages  in  the  gospels  were  sometimes 
deliberately  altered  in  order  to  bring  them  into 
harmony  with  one  another.  Still  other  errors 
no  doubt  owe  their  existence  to  the  mutilation  of 
manuscripts,  or  the  dimming  of  words  through 
the  soiling  or  wearing  of  the  material  on  which 
they  were  written,  and  the  necessity  thence  aris- 
ing for  the  copyist  to  guess  at  the  proper  letter, 
word,  or  phrase  to  be  inserted.8 

Now,  the  problem  of  the  Lower  Criticism  is 

8  "Finally  there  are  errors  of  which  nothing  can  be  said 
save  that  they  are  unaccountable.  Every  one  who  has  done 
much  writing  must  know  that  now  and  again  he  puts  down  words 
which  have  no  meaning  in  the  context  in  which  he  uses  them,  or 
(if  he  is  copying)  are  wholly  unlike  the  words  which  he  should 
have  copied.  His  mind  has  strayed,  and  he  has  written  down 
words  which  some  obscure  train  of  association  has  put  into  his 
head.  Errors  such  as  these  are  sometimes  made  by  the  copy- 
ists of  manuscripts,  and  since  they  have  no  traceable  connection 
with  the  true  text,  they  do  not,  as  some  kinds  of  error  do,  pro- 
vide the  means  for  their  own  correction.  The  same  may  be  said 
of  errors  due  to  the  defectiveness  of  the  manuscript  from  which 
the  copy  has  been  made.  A  word  may  be  defaced  or  obliterated, 
and  the  copyist  must  either  omit  it  or  guess  at  it;  and  since  a 
copyist  often  has  but  a  hazy  idea  of  the  sense  of  what  he  is 
copying,  his  guesses  are  often  wide  of  the  mark.  Errors  from 
mutilation  would  arise  with  especial  ease  during  the  period  when 
papyrus  was  the  material  in  use  for  literary  purposes.  The  sur- 
face was  more  delicate  than  that  of  vellum,  and  therefore  more 
liable  to  small  and  local  injuries,  which  will  obscure,  or  wholly 
obliterate,  a  word  or  a  sentence.  Here  again  the  true  reading 
is  often  irrecoverable  except  by  guessing,  and  even  if  a  guess  be 
right,  it  can  rarely  be  proved  to  be  right;  and  an  unverified  guess 
can  carry  but  little  weight  for  practical  purposes," — Kenyon,  The 
Textual  Criticism  of  the  New  Testament,  p.   10. 


78        NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

to  counteract  as  far  as  possible  these  numerous 
mistakes  or  various  readings,  which  were  bound 
to  occur  under  the  circumstances  attending  the 
transmission  of  the  Scriptures  through  so  long 
a  period  of  time.  The  object  of  such  criticism 
is  to  determine,  with  the  highest  degree  of  prob- 
ability, what  the  biblical  authors  actually  wrote. 
This,  as  we  have  seen,  is  a  prerequisite  to  a  true 
understanding  or  interpretation  of  their  writ- 
ings. Most  of  the  work  of  the  textual  critics 
has  been  done  since  the  invention  of  printing, 
and.  by  far  the  best  part  of  it  within  the  last  cen- 
tury. It  has  consisted  (i)  in  ascertaining  and 
weighing  the  documentary  evidence — that  is  to 
say,  in  discovering,  examining,  and  appraising 
all  the  manuscripts,  large  and  small,  contained  in 
the  university  libraries  and  monasteries  of  Eu- 
rope, or  elsewhere;  (2)  in  carefully  comparing 
and  recording  their  agreements  and  disagree- 
ments, however  minute,  and  in  studying  the  ver- 
sions and  quotations  which  might  throw  any 
side-lights  upon  these  manuscripts;  and  (3)  in 
constructing  from  these  various  sources  a  cor- 
rected text.  The  work  has  naturally  divided  it- 
self into  two  departments  for  the  Old  and  the 
New  Testaments  respectively,  and  the  results 
may  be  best  summarized  separately. 

1.  In  the  case  of  the  New  Testament  the 
available  materials  for  the  use  of  the  textual 
critics  are  of  the  three  classes  just  mentioned — 


WHAT  IS  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM?  79 

Greek  manuscripts,  ancient  versions,  and  quota- 
tions from  the  New  Testament  books  in  early 
Christian  writings.  Such  quotations  are  nu- 
merous because  there  quickly  sprang  up  a  rich 
Christian  literature,  increasing  from  the  last 
quarter  of  the  first  century,  in  which  the  sayings 
of  Jesus  and  the  teachings  of  the  apostles  were 
widely  repeated.  These  patristic  quotations, 
as  they  are  called,  though  not  always  accurate 
and,  therefore,  not  of  the  highest  value,  are 
nevertheless  much  esteemed  for  the  collateral 
evidence  which  they  afford  in  judging  what  the 
original  text  must  have  been.  Likewise  the  ver- 
sions that  were  early  produced,  because  the  new 
religion  rapidly  spread  among  peoples  of  var- 
ious languages,  and  that  antedate  the  oldest 
manuscripts,  are  of  great  worth  in  helping  to 
determine  the  still  earlier  source  or  sources  from 
which  they  were  made.  At  least  one  of  these 
versions,  the  Syriac,  dating  from  the  second  cen- 
tury, is  of  extreme  importance.  But  the  princi- 
pal materials  are  the  manuscripts,  of  which  more 
than  3,800  are  known  and  catalogued,  while  it 
is  believed  that  two  or  three  thousand  others 
exist  which  have  not  yet  been  collated.9    Among 

9  "For  no  literary  production  of  antiquity  is  there  such  a 
wealth  of  manuscripts  as  for  the  New  Testament.  Our  classical 
scholars  would  rejoice  were  they  as  fortunate  with  Homer  or 
Sophocles,  Plato  or  Aristotle,  Cicero  or  Tacitus,  as  Bible  students 
are  with  their  New  Testament.  The  oldest  complete  manuscript 
of  Homer  that  we  have  dates  from  the  thirteenth  century,  and 
only  separate  papyrus  fragments  go  back  to  the  Alexandrian  age. 


80         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

the  chief  of  these  known  manuscripts  there  are, 
as  stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  two  which  be- 
long to  the  fourth  century — Codex  Sinaiticus, 
at  St.  Petersburg,  and  Codex  Vaticanus,  at 
Rome.  Two  others  belong  to  the  fifth  century 
— Codex  Alexandrinus,  at  London,  and  Codex 
Ephraemi,  at  Paris.  There  is  still  another, 
Codex  Bezae,  which  some  authorities  place  in 
the  fifth  century,  and  some  in  the  sixth.10  All 
the  rest  are  of  later  dates.11 

With  such  materials  at  their  service,  the  text- 
ual critics  have  studied  them  with  wonderful  pa- 
tience. The  variations  have  been  carefully  no- 
ticed, recorded  and  published,  along  with  the 

All  that  is  extant  of  Sophocles  we  owe  to  a  single  manuscript 
dating  from  the  eighth  or  ninth  century  in  the  Laurentian  Library 
at  Florence.  But  of  the  New  Testament,  3,829  manuscripts  have 
been  catalogued  up  till  the  present  (1901).  A  systematic  search 
in  the  libraries  of  Europe  might  add  still  more  to  the  list;  a 
search  in  those  of  Asia  and  Egypt  would  certainly  do  so. 
Gregory  believes  that  there  are  probably  some  two  or  three 
thousand  manuscripts  which  have  not  yet  been  collated,  and  every 
year  additional  manuscripts  are  brought  to  light.  Most  of  these 
are,  of  course,  late,  and  contain  only  separate  portions,  some  of 
them  mere  fragments,  of  the  New  Testament.  Not  a  few,  how- 
ever, go  much  further  back  than  our  manuscripts  of  the  Hebrew 
Old  Testament  and  most  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  Classics." — 
Nestle,   Textual  Criticism  of  the  Greek  New  Testament,  pp.  33,  34. 

10  See  F.  C.  Burkitt,  "Text  and  Versions,"  Encyclopedia 
Biblica,  Vol.  IV;  also  Julicher,  op.  cit.,  p.  605. 

11 A  list  of  the  more  important  manuscripts,  indicating 
names,  dates,  contents,  and  character,  is  given  by  J.  O.  F. '  Mur- 
ray. The  Cambridge  Companion  to  the  Bible  (1893),  article 
"Textual  Criticism  of  the  New  Testament."  He  also  gives  an 
account  of  the  ancient  versions,  alluded  to  above,  and  likewise 
of  the  early  ecclesiastical  writers  affording  quotations  from  the 
New  Testament.  Thus  the  ordinary  reader  may  see  what  ma- 
terials  the   textual   critics  have  to   work  upon. 


WHAT  IS  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM?  81 

evidence  supporting  them.  The  interpretation 
of  this  evidence  opens  the  way  for  differences 
of  judgment,  and  the  experts  are  not  altogether 
agreed  on  many  details ;  in  fact  the  work  of  this 
great  department  of  scientific  investigation  is 
still  going  on.  Hence  a  perfectly  satisfactory 
text  has  not  yet  been  constructed.  Progress  is 
being  made,  however,  and  the  scholars  hope  to 
produce  in  the  course  of  time  a  critical  Greek 
text  of  the  New  Testament  superior  to  any  here- 
tofore in  use,  and  far  superior  to  that  from 
which  most  of  our  English  translations  have 
been  made. 

But  it  should  not  be  inferred  from  the  fore- 
going remarks  that  the  uncertainties  about  the 
text  of  the  New  Testament  are  of  serious  mo- 
ment, as  affecting  our  understanding  of  the  es- 
sential purport  of  its  various  writings.  The 
different  readings  are,  indeed,  numerous,  but 
the  vast  majority  of  them  are  of  trifling  signifi- 
cance, and  it  may  be  said  with  emphasis  that  the 
labors  of  the  textual  critics  have  immensely  sub- 
stantiated, instead  of  invalidating,  the  sources 
of  our  information  regarding  the  teachings  of 
the  Christian  Scriptures.12     We  know  now  bet- 

12  "Though  it  would  not  be  right  to  pretend  that  the  true 
reading  can  in  all  cases  be  determined  with  absolute  certainty,  or 
even  to  deny  that  there  may  be  cases  in  which  it  has  been  lost 
altogether  from  all  the  available  authorities,  yet  the  materials  are, 
beyond  all  comparison,  more  abundant,  the  results  more  secure, 
than  is  the  case  with  regard  to  the  text  of  any  prose  author  of 
antiquity.      The    extremest    margin    of    observed    variation    leaves 


82         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

ter  than  scholars  ever  knew  before  what  Jesus 
and  the  apostles  actually  did  and  said. 

2.  The  textual  criticism  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment presents  quite  a  different  situation.  There 
are,  indeed,  as  in  the  case  of  the  New  Testament, 
the  same  classes  of  materials,  namely:  manu- 
scripts, versions,  and  ancient  quotations;  and, 
in  addition,  extensive  paraphrases  called  Tar- 
gums,  and  a  great  mass  of  commentary  notes 
and  explanations  composing  what  is  known  as 
the  Talmud.  But  the  extant  Hebrew  manuscripts 
are  of  comparatively  recent  date,  the  oldest  be- 
ing no  earlier  than  the  ninth  century  of  our  era ; 
and  these  are  not  in  the  same  form,  or  even  in 
exactly  the  same  language,  as  those  which  the 
Old  Testament  Scriptures  originally  bore.  The 
ancient  Hebrew  which  was  spoken  and  written 
by  the  Israelites  prior  to  the  Exile,  and  which 
the  earliest  and  most  important  books  of  the 
Old  Testament  employed,  was  greatly  modified 
by  the  breaking-up  of  the  nation  and  its  con- 
tact with  other  peoples  through  the  Babylonian 
captivity  and  subsequent  events.  While  this 
purer  language  continued  to  be  used  in  writing 

seven-eighths  of  the  Text  untouched,  and  while  it  affects  here 
and  there  a  favorite  proof-text  it  leaves  the  whole  voice  of 
Scripture  on  the  main  problems  of  life  and  conduct  practically  un- 
changed. And  even  this  debatable  one-eighth  may  be  reduced 
by  the  careful  application  of  the  methods  indicated,  till,  in  the 
judgment  of  the  most  competent  critics,  'the  amount  of  what  can 
in  any  sense  be  called  substantial  variation  hardly  forms  more 
than  a  thousandth  part  of  the  entire  Text.'  " — J.  O.  F.  Murray, 
Cambridge  Companion,  p.  75. 


WHAT  IS  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM?  83 

and  copying  the  sacred  books,  so  that  they  were 
all  produced  and  preserved  in  it  down  to  the 
Maccabean  period,  yet  it  was  gradually  super- 
seded by  the  Aramaic  dialect,  both  in  common 
speech  and  in  ordinary  writing.  Hence  it  be- 
came the  tendency  and  the  practice  to  trans- 
literate the  Scriptures  into  the  Aramaic,  and 
in  the  time  of  Christ  they  probably  existed  al- 
together in  this  language,  except  the  Samaritan 
Pentateuch  and  the  Greek  translation,  called 
the  "Septuagint."  The  Samaritan  Pentateuch, 
dating  from  the  fourth  century  b.  a,  preserves 
the  ancient  Hebrew  with  slight  modifications, 
while  two  other  similar  specimens  of  it  are 
found  in  the  inscription  on  the  Moabite  Stone 
(about  890  b.  c.)  and  in  that  on  the  Pool  of 
Siloam  (about  700  b.  a). 

Now,  in  the  course  of  this  transition  of  the 
Scriptures  from  the  ancient  Hebrew  to  the  Ara- 
maic and  thence  to  the  Greek,  and  also  by  rea- 
son of  the  vicissitudes  of  the  Jewish  nation 
through  which  many  precious  literary  works 
were  lost,  the  text  undoubtedly  experienced 
some  serious  corruptions.  The  labors  of  the 
scribes  became  very  important  and  were  of  a 
painstaking  character;  yet  they  exercised  con- 
siderable editorial  freedom,  and  introduced  cer- 
tain changes  which  remained  permanently.13     It 

13  See  Professor  Charles  A.  Briggs,  The  Study  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture  (1899),   chap.  vii. 


84         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

does  not  appear  that  an  attempt  was  made  to  es- 
tablish an  official  text  until  after  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem  by  the  Romans  in  70  a.  d.,  or  at 
about  the  time  of  the  closing  of  the  third  section 
of  the  Old  Testament  Canon.  Thereafter  this 
established  text  prevailed,  during  the  Talmudic 
period,  until  the  era  of  the  Masoretes  (between 
the  fifth  and  the  eighth  centuries). 

The  Masoretes  were  Jewish  scholars  who  set 
out  to  determine,  from  the  mass  of  Talmudic 
notes  and  comments,  the  true  traditional  text; 
they  also  supplied  the  necessary  vowel-points, 
inasmuch  as  the  writings  had  come  down  to 
them  only  in  consonant  form ;  and  they  recorded 
the  traditional  remarks,  along  with  their  own  ex- 
planations, indicating  various  readings.  The 
school  of  the  Masoretes  had  its  seat  at  Tiberias, 
but  its  labors  were  not  confined  to  one  place  and 
could  not  be  completed  in  one  generation.  They 
were  performed  with  the  most  scrupulous  care 
and  fidelity,  and  when  the  work  was  finished  the 
greatest  pains  were  taken  to  secure  its  preser- 
vation and  its  use  in  the  synagogues  instead  of 
any  and  all  other  forms  of  the  text.  It  is  this 
traditional  or  Masoretic  text  which  has  come 
down  to  our  time,  and  from  which  the  modern 
translations  of  the  Old  Testament  have  been 
made.14 

14  See  Kenyon,   Our  Bible  and  the  Ancient  Manuscripts,   chap, 
iv;  also  Encyclopedia  Biblica,   Vol.   IV,   art.,   "Text  and  Versions." 


WHAT  IS  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM?  85 

With  these  and  other  materials — the  Samar- 
itan Pentateuch,  the  Greek  translation  called 
the  Septuagint,  made  in  the  third  and  second 
centuries  before  Christ,  three  minor  Greek  trans- 
lations made  in  the  second  century  a.  d.,  the 
Syriac  Version  made  prior  to  the  fourth  cen- 
tury a.  d.,  the  Old  Latin  Version  made  from  the 
Greek,  and  Jerome's  new  translation  of  the  Old 
Testament  called  the  Vulgate — with  all  these 
materials,  and  some  of  less  importance  not  here 
included,  the  textual  critics  seek  to  remove  errors 
from  the  Masoretic  Text  by  the  methods  of  com- 
parison and  conjecture  which  experience  and 
learning  enable  them  to  use  with  great  skill. 
Their  work  is  not  yet  finished,  and  perhaps  will 
never  be  perfectly  accomplished;  but  it  has  re- 
suited,  while  proving  the  existence  of  mistakes,  in 
demonstrating  the  essential  trustworthiness  of 
the  Old  Testament  Scriptures,  as  they  have  come 
down  to  us,  bringing  the  great  ethical  and  reli- 
gious messages  which  the  servants  of  God  so 
faithfully  delivered  in  the  ancient  time. 

II.  The  Higher  Criticism  has  to  do  with  the 
inner  substance  of  the  Scriptures.  It  deals  with 
their  literary  features,  undertaking  to  judge  as 
to  the  character  and  origin  of  the  biblical  books, 
and  as  to  their  relation  to  one  another.  To  this 
end  it  studies  the  style,  structure,  and  thought 
of  each  particular  writing;  seeks  to  ascertain 
whether  it  is  the  work  of  a  single  author,  or  a 


86         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

compilation;  analyzes  and  dissects  it,  even  to  the 
extent  of  scrutinizing  every  word  and  syllable, 
every  peculiar  expression,  every  allusion  to  other 
writings;  and  tries  to  determine  its  date,  its  re- 
liability, its  dogmatic  bearings  and  its  spiritual 
worth.  Above  all,  perhaps,  it  aims  to  understand 
the  times  and  circumstances  under  which  a  given 
portion  of  Scripture  was  produced,  because  this 
will  be  likely  to  throw  the  most  light  upon  its 
real  purport.  As  Professor  George  T.  Ladd 
says:  "By  the  Higher  Criticism  is  meant  that 
study  which  tries  to  reproduce  the  influences  and 
circumstances  out  of  which  the  biblical  books 
arose,  and  thus  exhibit  them  as  true  children  of 
their  own  time."  15  To  the  same  effect  writes 
Professor  W.  Robertson  Smith:  "The  critical 
study  of  ancient  documents  means  nothing  else 
than  a  careful  sifting  of  their  origin  and  mean- 
ing in  the  light  of  history."  16  And  Professor 
Charles  A.  Briggs  says:  "The  questions  of  the 
Higher  Criticism  are  questions  of  integrity,  au- 
thenticity, credibility,  and  literary  forms  of  the 
various  writings  that  constitute  the  Bible."  17 

16  What  is  the  Bible?  p.   126. 

16  The  Old  Testament  in  the  Jewish  Church,  p.   16. 

17  Biblical  Study,  p.  171.  But  see  his  later  work,  General 
Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Holy  Scripture  (1899),  chaps,  xi 
and  xii.  "The  literary  study  of  Holy  Scripture  is  appropriately 
called  Higher  Criticism  to  distinguish  it  from  the  Lower  Criti- 
cism, which  devotes  itself  to  the  study  of  the  original  texts  and 
versions."  Similarly,  H.  S.  Nash,  History  of  the  Higher  Criti- 
cism,   p.     15:      "The    lower    or    preparatory    criticism    aims    at    the 


WHAT  IS  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM?  87 

The  special  reason  why  such  a  work  is  neces- 
sary lies  in  the  fact  that  the  Scriptures,  like 
other  literary  remains  of  antiquity,  were  pro- 
duced in  an  uncritical,  that  is  to  say,  an  unscien- 
tific age,  when  people  were  not  careful  about 
keeping  precise  records  of  dates  and  authorities, 
and  have  reached  us  through  many  changes  of 
circumstances  and  form  which  cannot  fail  to  pro- 
voke some  question  as  to  their  trustworthiness. 
In  common  with  the  productions  of  ancient  his- 
torians and  poets,  the  sacred  literature  of  all  the 
great  nations  of  the  remote  past  has  been  sub- 
jected to  a  rigid  scrutiny,  in  modern  times,  to  de- 
termine its  real  character  and  value,  simply  be- 
cause the  temper  of  our  age  is  not  satisfied  with 
tradition,  but  wants  verification;  in  other  words, 
it  wants  knozvledge  wherever  possible,  or  ade- 
quate reasons  for  its  true  faith. 

But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  Higher 
Criticism  is  entirely  of  recent  origin.  Like  other 
significant  movements  in  the  realm  of  thought,  it 
is  the  culmination  of  a  long  preparatory  develop- 
ment. It  has  been  growing  ever  since,  in  the 
later  days  of  Judaism  in  Palestine,  enough  criti- 
cal judgment  was  exercised  to  decide  what  writ- 
ings should  be  admitted  into  the  Old  Testament 
Canon.     Each  of  the  three  stages  of  this  great 


original  text,  cleared  of  corruptions  and  accretions.  The  Higher 
Criticism,  the  original  text  having  been  found,  aims  at  the  his- 
torical   interpretation    of    Scripture." 


88        NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

process,  determining  respectively  and  succes- 
sively the  Canon  of  the  Law,  and  then  the  Canon 
of  the  Prophets,  and  lastly  the  Canon  of  the 
Hagiographa,  contributed  to  the  increasing  learn- 
ing and  discrimination  lying  behind  what  is  now 
a  noble  science.  In  the  early  Christian  centuries 
when  the  New  Testament  Canon  was  likewise 
slowly  forming,  criticism  made  a  marked  ad- 
vance. It  made  another  notable  advance  through 
the  labors  of  the  renowned  scholar  Origen,18  who, 
during  his  sojourn  at  Caesarea  (232-254  a.  d.), 
produced  his  great  Hexapla,  which  laid  the  foun- 
dation for  real  textual  criticism,  and  who  became 
the  foremost  teacher  of  the  early  Church. 
Through  the  work  of  Jerome,  too,  it  took  an- 
other stride  forward;  a  thousand  years  later,  the 
Reformers  promoted  it  still  further,  through 
their  translations  and  their  observations  upon  the 
respective  merits  of  various  biblical  books;  and 
within  the  last  two  centuries  it  has  become  a 
more  strictly  scientific  method  of  Bible  study, 
striving  to  free  itself  from  dogmatic  preposses- 
sion and  traditionary  bias,  and  to  know  the  real 
inner  structure,  nature,  and  purport  of  Scripture 
as  revealed  by  the  historic  conditions  of  its  pro- 
duction. The  work  of  the  textual  critics  has 
thus  been  supplemented  by  that  of  the  literary  or 
"higher"  critics,  whose  company  embraces  a  host 

18  For    a    word    of    just    appreciation    of    this    illustrious    Chris- 
tian  scholar,    see    Farrar,    History    of   Interpretation,    pp.    187,    188. 


WHAT  IS  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM?  89 

of  brilliant  names  reaching  from  the  early 
years  of  the  eighteenth  century19  down  to  the 
present  time. 

These  brief  general  statements  are  wholly  in- 
adequate to  give  an  account  of  the  rise  and  prog- 
ress of  the  Higher  Criticism,  but  limits  of  space 
do  not  allow  an  extended  treatment,  and  only  a  few 
very  simple  examples  may  now  be  cited  to  illus- 
trate its  function.  They  will  at  least  afford  an 
elementary  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  questions 
with  which  it  deals. 

1.  Let  us  take  the  book  of  Isaiah.  Tradition 
has  taught  us  to  suppose  that  this  was  all  written 
by  the  author  whose  name  it  bears,  who  flour- 
ished about  739-701  b.  c.  But  a  critical  examina- 
tion shows  that  there  are  two  very  dissimilar 

19  See  Briggs,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Holy  Scripture, 
chap,  xi ;  also  Nash,  History  of  the  Higher  Criticism  of  the 
New  Testament,  especially  chaps,  v  and  vi.  "It  was  in  the  eight- 
eenth century  that  criticism  became  an  historical  force.  The 
mental  conditions  of  the  time  differed  profoundly  from  those 
of  the  early  Middle  Ages.  If  the  latter  was  the  classic  age  of 
Tradition,  then  the  eighteenth  century  was  the  classic  age  of 
scepticism  touching  Tradition.  The  typical  reasoner  in  the  first 
case  was  a  man  who  looked  at  the  Scriptures  through  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  Fathers,  and  who  looked  at  the  universe  through 
such  fragments  of  ancient  knowledge  as  had  come  down  to  him. 
Authority   was  the  first   word   of   the   mediaeval   man.      It   was   also 

his   last The   typical    man   of   the    eighteenth    centuiy    threw 

Tradition    upon    the    dust   heap It    was   in   this    century   that 

criticism  was  born.  From  the  conditions  and  causes  that  gave  it 
birth  we  may  draw  a  definition  of  its  essential  nature.  The  main 
condition  was  the  bankruptcy  of  Tradition,  leaving  the  mind 
free  to  know  and  possess  itself.  The  main  cause  was  the  sense 
of  outlying  facts.  So  we  define  criticism  as  a  movement  of  the 
human  mind,  inspired  by  the  consciousness  of  truth  unknown,  but 
knowable,  and  sustained  by  the  resolution  to  serve  the  truth 
without    fear   or    favor." — Nash,    op.    cit.,    pp.    77,   78,    80,    81. 


90        NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

parts  to  it,  viz.,  the  first  thirty-nine  chapters,  and 
the  last  twenty-seven.  The  former  of  these  parts 
bears  abundant  evidence  of  having  been  written, 
with  some  exceptions,  in  the  Assyrian  period, 
long  before  the  overthrow  of  Jerusalem  by  Baby- 
lon; while  the  latter  part  bears  equal  evidence  of 
having  been  produced,  with  some  exceptions  also, 
in  the  time  of  Cyrus,  king  of  Persia,  whom  it 
mentions  by  name  as  the  Lord's  "anointed,"  who 
should  do  his  pleasure.  Plainly  the  fact  of  such 
mention  proves  that  there  must  have  been  a  Cyrus 
to  write  about  at  the  time ;  but  this  was  more  than 
a  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  Isaiah's  day,  as 
Cyrus  did  not  capture  Babylon  until  538  b.  c. 
For  this  and  other  strong  reasons  the  Higher  Cri- 
ticism concludes  that  our  present  book  of  Isaiah 
consists  mainly  of  two  distinct  works,  the  author- 
ship of  the  second  of  which  is  unknown.  But  the 
fact  that  it  is  anonymous  does  not  impair  its 
value.  It  is  just  as  truly  the  voice  of  its  age — the 
highest,  clearest,  divinest  voice  of  the  generation 
that  heard  its  message  originally — as  it  would  be 
if  we  were  certain  of  the  author's  name.  It  bears 
the  stamp  of  its  time,  and  the  very  mood  of  the 
great  prophet  whose  soul  gave  forth  its  inspiring 
word  of  promise  may  easily  possess  the  intelli- 
gent, sympathetic  reader  who  takes  in  the  mean- 
ing of  its  glowing  utterances  today. 

2.  Take  the   forty-second   Psalm,   beginning, 
"As  the  hart  panteth  after  the  water-brooks."    It 


WHAT  IS  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM?  91 

has  been  widely  believed  that  David  wrote  nearly 
all  the  Psalms.  But  surely  no  one  can  read  this, 
after  the  idea  has-  been  suggested  that  it  was  writ- 
ten during  the  Captivity,  without  seeing  at  once 
what  a  new,  fresh,  earnest  meaning  it  takes  on. 
Listen  to  the  plaintive  strain  of  this  mournful 
Israelite : 

My   tears   have  been   my   food   day  and  night, 

While  they  continually  say  unto  me,  Where  is  thy  God? 

These  things  I   remember,  and  pour  out  my  soul  within 

me, 
How  I  went  with  the  throng,  and  led  them  to  the  house 

of  God, 
With  the  voice  of  joy  and  praise,  a  multitude  keeping 

holyday. 

There  is  no  difficulty  in  understanding  that  this 
Psalm  must  have  been  written  at  the  time  of  the 
Babylonian  Exile;  but  this  was  nearly  five  hun- 
dred years  after  David's  age. 

3.  Take  another  Psalm,  cxxxvii : 

By  the  rivers  of  Babylon, 

There  we  sat  down,  yea,  we  wept, 

When  we  remembered  Zion. 

Upon  the  willows  in  the  midst  thereof 

We    hanged    up    our    harps. 

For   there   they   that    led   us    captive    required    of   us 

songs, 
And  they  that  wasted  us  required  of  us  mirth,  saying, 
Sing  us  one  of  the  songs  of  Zion. 
How  shall  we  sing  Jehovah's  song 
In    a    foreign   land? 
If   I    forget   thee,    O   Jerusalem, 
Let  my  right  hand  forget  her  skill. 
Let  my  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth, 


02         NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

If   I    remember   thee   not; 
If   I   prefer   not   Jerusalem 
Above   my   chief  joy. 

It  is  clear  that  this  could  not  have  been  written 
at  any  other  time  than  that  of  the  Captivity. 
These  are  some  of  the  more  simple  cases  in  which 
the  historical  allusions  easily  enable  the  critic  to 
determine  the  approximate  dates  of  the  writings 
under  consideration. 

4.  A  more  difficult  case  is  that  of  the  Fourth 
Gospel,  assigned  by  tradition  to  John  the 
Evangelist,  whose  name  it  bears.  This  document 
is  different  from  the  other  gospels.  It  opens  with 
the  expression  of  ideas  belonging  to  the  Logos 
philosophy  prevalent  in  Alexandria,  and  these 
ideas  color  the  work  throughout.  Jesus  is  not 
called  "the  Son  of  Man,"  as  in  the  other  three 
gospels,  but  "the  Son  of  God,"  and  the  whole 
conception  of  his  mission  is  peculiarly  exalted 
and  spiritual.  The  book  is  not  so  much  a  narra- 
tive of  the  outward  events  in  the  Master's  career 
as  it  is  a  report  of  his  attitude,  his  prevailing 
mood,  his  profound  thought  and  feeling;  and  yet 
the  report  is  evidently  a  reflection  of  the  author's 
interpretation  of  it  all.  These  and  many  other 
facts  raise  the  question  whether  the  gospel  was 
really  written  by  John,  or  by  some  non-Jewish 
Christian  who  was  deeply  influenced  by  Hellen- 
istic rr^sticism,  writing  in  the  early  part  of  the 
second  century,  or  whether,  indeed,  it  may  not  be 


WHAT  IS  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM?  93 

a  composite  work,  embodying  some  of  the  mem- 
ories of  the  apostle  along  with  the  philosophical 
ideas  and  arguments  of  his  own  followers.  This 
problem  is  not  yet  solved,  but  it  is  one  which  the 
Higher  Criticism  has  dealt  with  most  industrious- 
ly and  which  is  still  of  the  keenest  interest.  Per- 
haps the  issue  cannot  be  determined  with  cer- 
tainty, but  the  whole  historic  foundation  of 
Christianity  has  been  shown  by  the  discussion  to 
be  more  solid  than  it  could  otherwise  have  been 
known  to  be. 

The  foregoing  instances  furnish  merely  a  hint 
of  the  task  which  the  Higher  Criticism  sets  itself 
to  perform;  namely,  to  ascertain  as  exactly  as 
possible  the  origin,  structure,  character,  and  pur- 
port of  every  biblical  writing,  with  the  aim  solely 
to  discover  and  make  known  the  truth,  in  the  firm 
conviction  that  the  truth  is  of  God  and  may  be 
trusted  to  do  God's  work  in  the  souls  of  men  who 
are  brought  to  understand  it.  As  a  grand  result 
of  the  critical  movement,  the  entire  Bible  is  speak- 
ing to  us  today  with  a  singular  freshness  of  in- 
terest  and  power.  The  historic  periods  in  which 
its  various  books  were  produced  are  brought 
nearer  to  us  than  ever  before ;  our  age  is  put  into 
sympathy  with  the  remote  past;  our  minds  and 
hearts  are  quickened  anew  by  ancient  thought, 
aspiration,  and  faith;  and  thus,  perceiving  and 
feeling   the   continuity   of   the   mighty    spiritual 


94        NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

development  running  through  the  ages,  we  are  en- 
abled by  a  knowledge  of  God's  methods  to  put 
our  own  lives  and  labors  more  intelligently  into 
harmony  with  his  vast  purposes. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   NEW  VIEW   OF  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT 

Granting  the  legitimacy  and  importance  of  bib- 
lical criticism  as  a  large  and  fruitful  branch  of 
modern  learning,  we  are  prepared  to  ascertain 
the  principal  results  which  it  has  already  pro- 
duced. While  its  work  is  by  no  means  finished, 
and  we  should  therefore  be  duly  cautious  about 
accepting  every  dictum  pronounced  in  its  name,  it 
has  progressed  far  enough  during  the  two  cen- 
turies *  and  more  of  its  growth,  to  have  estab- 
lished certain  general  conclusions  which  neces- 
sarily and  quite  radically  modify  the  popular  con- 
ception of  Scripture.  Indeed,  it  is  not  too  much 
to  say  that,  to  those  who  receive  the  truth  which 
it  has  brought  to  light,  the  Bible  becomes,  again, 
a  new  book,  fresh  and  quickening,  filled  with 
new  meanings,  revelations,  and  inspirations,  that 
are  higher,  richer,  more  natural,  and  more  vital 
than  the  old.  This  is  much  to  claim,  but  the 
claim  can  be  substantiated,  and  its  substantiation 
means  a  great  spiritual  blessing  for  all  who  will 
welcome  it.  What  these  better  perceptions  are 
will  appear  as  the  changed  view  develops  in  this 
and  the  next  few  chapters;  and  though  this  view 
can    be    but    meagerly    presented  here,   even  a 

1  See  Professor  George  Adam  Smith's  Modern  Criticism  and  the 
Preaching  of  the  Old  Testament,  pp.  31  f. 

IS 


96        NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

glimpse  of  it  in  outline  will  compensate  for  the 
attention  and  thought  required  for  its  compre- 
hension. 

I.  First  to  be  noticed  among  the  main  features 
of  the  new  view  of  the  Old  Testament  is  the  fact 
that  the  several  writings  of  which  it  is  composed 
are  to  be  regarded  as  literature.  Whatever  may 
be  their  intrinsic  value,  and  whatever  account  we 
may  give  of  their  inspiration,  they  come  to  us, 
first  of  all,  as  literary  documents,  and  are  to  be 
approached  and  studied  as  such.  This  principle 
is  fundamental  in  any  proper  treatment  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures.  While  it  is  simple  and  is  begin- 
ning to  be  widely  accepted,  it  is  still  so  new  or  so 
unappreciated  in  many  circles  that  we  shall  need 
to  continue  to  inculcate  it  until  all  classes  are 
educated  to  its  plain  implications. 

Nor  is  the  Old  Testament  the  only  collection  of 
sacred  writings  in  existence  besides  the  New  Tes- 
tament. As  is  well  known,  other  peoples,  in  other 
countries  and  ages,  have  had  their  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, many  of  which  are  still  extant — those  be- 
longing to  the  Brahmans,  the  Buddhists,  the 
Parsees  of  Persia,  the  Chinese,  and  the  Moham- 
medans, not  to  speak  of  the  ancient  Egyptians 
and  others.  The  truth  is  that  the  Hebrew  or 
Jewish  Bible  is  only  one  of  the  many  bibles  of 
the  world,  all  of  which  are  perhaps  equally  dear 
to  their  possessors.  I  say  nothing  as  to  their 
comparative  merits;  I  merely  state  the  fact,  and 


NEW  VIEW  OF  OLD  TESTAMENT  97 

may  add  that  we  ought  to  rejoice  that,  as  God  has 
not  left  himself  without  witness  in  all  the  world, 
so  there  have  not  been  wanting  expressions  and 
memorials  of  such  witness  in  the  form  of  sacred 
literatures  as  well  as  in  that  of  rites  and  cere- 
monies. 

Neither  does  our  present  Old  Testament  em- 
brace all  the  writings  of  the  Israelitish  people 
prior  to  the  time  of  Christ.  In  some  editions  of 
the  English  Bible  there  is  printed  a  list  of  four- 
teen books  called  "The  Apocrypha."  Protestants 
generally  consider  these  uninspired,  and  yet 
worth  reading  and  preserving;  but  they  have  been 
received  as  canonical  by  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  and  were  included  in  the  Septuagint. 
They  constitute  a  portion  of  Jewish  literature 
just  as  truly  as  do  the  regular  books  of  the  Old 
Testament.  Besides  these  there  are  now  extant 
eighteen  writings  called  "pseudepigraphical" 
(falsely  ascribed),  which  must  be  classed  as  Jew- 
ish literature;  and,  still  further,  there  are  men- 
tioned in  the  Old  Testament  itself  sixteen  other 
books  which  have  entirely  perished.1  Thus  it 
appears  that  there  was  a  considerable  literary 
activity  among  the  Israelites  the  results  of  which 
are  not  contained  in  the  Old  Testament  as  we 
now  have  it.    An  explanation  of  the  omission  of 

1  See  Sunderland's  The  Bible;  its  Origin,  Growth  and  Character, 
p.  167;  also  Briggs,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Holy  Scripture, 
pp.  326  f. 


98        NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

those  that  survive  belongs  properly  in  an  account 
of  the  formation  of  the  Canon,  upon  which  I  do 
not  here  enter. 

II.  The  second  prominent  feature  of  the  new 
view  of  the  Old  Testament  which  must  be  fairly 
recognized  is  the  truth  that  its  various  writings 
are  to  be  studied  in  connection  with  the  national 
history  of  the  Israelites.  It  is  impossible  to  un- 
derstand them  correctly  if  this  principle  be 
ignored.  Like  the  former  principle,  just  consid- 
ered, it  is  very  simple,  but  it  is  even  more  impor- 
tant. People  have  been  so  long  accustomed  to 
think  of  the  Bible  primarily  as  a  supernatural 
communication  from  the  Almighty  to  each  in- 
dividual of  their  own  generation,  that  they  have 
scarcely  realized  that  it  had  an  actual  earthly  his- 
tory. Therefore  we  need  to  press  this  thought, 
that,  no  matter  how  much  or  how  little  the  Bible 
contains  which  may  be  called  supernatural  and 
divine,  it  has  come  to  us  through  human  channels, 
under  definite  conditions  of  time,  place,  and  race, 
which  can  be  intelligently  traced  and  clearly  de- 
picted; and  that  some  knowledge  of  these  facts 
is  indispensable  as  a  preparation  for  grasping  the 
inner,  spiritual  purport  of  the  Scriptures. 

Unfortunately,  such  an  historical  conception 
or  attitude  has  been  difficult  of  attainment  by  the 
average  reader  on  account  of  the  non-chrono- 
logical arrangement  of  the  biblical  books,  to- 
gether with  the  marginal  dates  and  the  headings 


NEW  VIEW  OF  OLD  TESTAMENT  99 

of  chapters  given  in  many  editions  of  the  Auth- 
orized Version.  Genesis  and  the  other  portions 
of  the  Pentateuch  come  first,  but  very  much  in 
them  was  not  written  until  a  late  date  in  Israelit- 
ish  history — as  late  at  least  as  the  Babylonian 
Exile — while  the  work  as  a  whole,  the  Torah  or 
Law,  was  not  put  into  its  final,  canonical  shape 
until  two  or  three  centuries  later.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  books  of  Amos,  Hosea,  Isaiah,  and 
Micah,  which  are  in  the  latter  third  of  the  Old 
Testament  as  we  have  it,  were  produced  quite  a 
time  before  the  Exile.  Again,  the  Psalms,  the 
Proverbs,  and  Ecclesiastes  are  placed  in  about 
the  middle  of  the  Old  Testament;  but  most  of 
these  writings  are  of  still  later  origin  than  the 
principal  parts  of  the  Pentateuch 

Now  there  is  no  reason  why  we  may  not,  for 
purposes  of  study  at  least,  rearrange  the  writ- 
ings of  the  Bible  to  fit  the  improved  chronology 
which  modern  learning  has  practically  deter- 
mined. Indeed,  this  is  being  done  already,  to 
a  limited  extent,  and  with  great  profit  to  the 
reader.3  Besides,  we  can  frame  an  outline  of  the 
national  history  of  the  Israelites  that  will  enable 
us  to  understand  the  allusions  which  must  be 
made  to  different  periods  and  conditions  in  speak- 

8  For  one  example,  see  the  series  of  handbooks  called  The 
Messages  of  the  Bible,  by  Professors  Sanders  and  Kent,  Scribner, 
1898;  also  Kent's  The  Student's  Old  Testament  Logically  and 
Chronologically  Arranged  and  Translated,  Scribner,  6  vols.,  Vols. 
I   and   II   published    1905.      Exceedingly  valuable. 


ioo      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

ing  of  the  authorship  and  dates  of  various  works 
contained  in  the  Old  Testament.4  Such  an  his- 
torical sketch,  as  concise  as  I  can  well  give,  and 
without  treating  the  origin  and  early  migration 
of  the  Hebrews,  is  presented  at  this  point  as  a 
preparation  for  what  is  to  follow  in  the  later  por- 
tions of  this  chapter. 

1.  We  will  begin  by  accepting  Professor  Toy's 
assignment  of  the  year  1330  b.  c.  as  the  approx- 
imate date  of  the  exodus  from  Egypt  under 
Moses.  The  Israelites  invaded  and  conquered 
Canaan  about  1300  b.  c.  The  conquest  was  un- 
doubtedly gradual,  and  for  two  hundred  years 
society  was  inchoate,  life  was  rough  and  religion 
crude.  Slowly  the  social  elements  united  and 
fused,  and  a  kingdom  was  established,  with  Saul 
as  king,  in  the  year  1060  b.  c.  After  twenty  years 
he  was  succeeded  by  David,  and  he  by  his  son 
Solomon,  each  of  whom  reigned,  it  is  said,  forty  5 
years.  Outwardly  this  was  a  brilliant  period,  the 
national  life  was  deepened  and  strengthened,  and 
the  temple  built  in  Jerusalem  indicated  the  growth 
of  a  distinctive  form  of  religion. 

2.  In  the  year  960  b.  c.  a  rebellion  and  a  divi- 
sion of  the  kingdom  took  place,  and  for  two  hun- 

*  Here,  too,  much  valuable  aid  has  been  recently  afforded  by 
such  popular  works  as  Professor  C.  H.  Toy's  brief  History  of  the 
Religion  of  Israel,  Professor  C.  F.  Kent's  three  vols,  on  Hebrew 
and  Jewish  history,  and  Professor  C.  H.  Cornill's  History  of  the 
People  of  Israel,   and  his  other  books. 

5  Forty  is  a  round  number,  often  used  in  the  Bible,  and  not  to 
be  taken  as  necessarily  exact. 


NEW  VIEW  OF  OLD  TfcSTA3£ENT'      '  Xo* 

clred  and  forty  years  there  were  two  kingdoms, 
namely,  the  northern  called  Israel,  and  the  south- 
ern called  Judah.  This  was  a  period  of  strife  and 
trial,  that  naturally  evoked  the  deeper  thoughts 
and  feelings  of  the  people,  which  found  expres- 
sion in  a  few  noble  writings  and  in  the  preaching 
of  the  early  prophets.  In  the  year  720  b.  c.  the 
Assyrian  army  overthrew  Samaria,  the  capital  of 
the  northern  kingdom,  and  carried  into  captivity 
the  flower  of  the  population.  Under  the  depress- 
ing influence  of  this  calamity  other  prophets 
arose  to  exalt  and  purify  the  religious  life  of  the 
people  of  the  southern  kingdom.  But  in  less  than 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years  this,  too,  fell  into  the 
hands  of  a  foreign  power,  Babylonia,  and  a  sec- 
ond and  a  third  deportation  of  captives  took  place. 
Then,  indeed,  was  the  whole  land  desolate,  while 
the  exiles  were  in  bondage  and  sorrow.  The 
Exile  lasted  about  fifty  years,  to  536  b.  c.  ;  it  was 
a  productive  literary  period,  and  in  important  re- 
spects greatly  modified  the  national  religion. 

3.  Cyrus,  King  of  Persia,  having  taken  Baby- 
lon (538  b.  a),  gave  the  Jews  permission  to  re- 
turn to  their  native  land.  Some,  but  comparatively 
few,6  availed  themselves  of  the  privilege,  and  in 
time,  amid  many  hardships,  rebuilt  the  walls  of 
Jerusalem  and  restored  the  worship  of  the  tem- 
ple; indeed,  they  went  beyond  all  their  former 
zeal  in  developing  the  priesthood  and  elaborating 

•  See  Cheyne,  Jewish  Religious  Life  after  the  Exile,  chap.  i. 


102       TOW.  APPRECIATION  0F  THE  BIBLE 

a  ritual.  Hence  this  became  distinctively  the 
priestly  period,  lasting  roughly  from  the  Exile  to 
the  time  of  Christ.  During  it  there  was  consid- 
erable literary  activity,  especially  in  the  earlier 
centuries  of  it;  but  much  of  its  product  was 
shaped  and  colored  by  the  priestly  or  ritualistic 
spirit.  It  was  also  a  time  of  contact  with  foreign- 
ers, and  of  oppression  by  them — by  Persia, 
Greece,  Syria,  Egypt,  and  Rome.  This  was  gall- 
ing, but  it  could  not  crush,  and  in  some  respects 
it  intensified,  the  messianic  hope  that  now  hast- 
ened toward  its  consummation. 

Bearing  in  mind  these  general  historical  facts, 
we  shall  be  qualified  to  appreciate  what  the  bib- 
lical critics  mean  when  they  assign  a  given  work 
to  a  particular  period ;  and  we  shall  do  well  to  re- 
member also  that,  throughout  the  entire  history 
from  Moses  to  Jesus,  it  was  the  nation  that  pro- 
duced the  Scriptures,  and  not  the  Scriptures  the 
nation. 

III.  But  by  far  the  most  important  feature  of 
the  new  view  of  the  Old  Testament  is  a  recogni- 
tion of  the  late  dates  and  the  composite  character 
of  most  of  its  zvritings.  The  significance  and  ap- 
plication of  this  principle  will  become  clear  as  we 
proceed  to  examine  some  of  the  chief  portions 
of  these  venerable  literary  remains. 

We  do  not  know  when  the  art  of  writing  com- 
menced; nor  does  it  matter  very  much.  It  may 
have  been  practiced  a  long  time  by  some  peoples 


NEW  VIEW  OF  OLD  TESTAMENT  103 

before  it  was  known  to  others.  For  example,  it 
is  certain  that  the  Greeks  and  Romans  had  a  large 
body  of  the  highest  kind  of  literature  centuries 
before  the  Teutonic  tribes  of  northern  Europe 
were  even  semi-civilized.  So  the  Egyptians  and 
Chaldeans  may  have  been  perfectly  familiar  with 
writing,  and  may  have  had  extensive  written  rec- 
ords, before  there  was  any  Israelitish  nation  in 
existence;  in  fact  we  now  know  positively  that 
this  was  the  case;7  yet  this  does  not  prove  that 
Moses  and  the  early  Israelites  knew  how  to  write, 
any  more  than  the  fact  that  nearly  all  New  Eng- 
enders could  read  and  write,  at  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  proves  that  nearly  all  the 
negroes  of  the  South  could  do  likewise  at  that 
time.8  And  even  if  Moses  was  really  "learned  in 
all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,"  so  that  he 
might  have  written  a  hundred  books,  it  does  not 
at  all  follow  that  he  wrote  the  Pentateuch,9  or, 

7  Professor  Kent  says:  "In  order  rightly  to  understand  the 
growth  of  Israel's  institutions  it  is  necessary  to  remember  that 
the  Hebrews  were  among  the  youngest  of  the  Semitic  peoples, 
and  therefore  the  inheritors  of  at  least  twenty  centuries  of  civ- 
ilization. The  magnitude  of  their  debt  to  the  nations  which  ante- 
dated them  and  became  their  teachers  is  undoubtedly  far  greater 
than  has  hitherto  been  imagined." — Messages  of  Israel's  Law- 
givers, p.  5.  So  writes  Professor  Friedrich  Delitzsch:  "Now  that 
the  pyramids  have  opened  their  depths  and  the  Assyrian  palaces 
their  portals,  the  people  of  Israel,  with  their  literature,  appears 
but  the  youngest  member  of  a  venerable  and  hoary  group  of 
nations." 

8  For  a  similar  remark  see  Professor  G.  A.  Smith,  Modern 
Criticism  and  the  Preaching  of  the  Old  Testament,  p.   59,  note. 

9  For  a  sane  and  scholarly  discussion  of  this  point,  see  ibid., 
pp.  56-67. 


104      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

indeed,  anything  else;  although  we  may  readily 
enough  believe  that  he  did  write  down,  or  engrave 
upon  stone  tablets,  some  of  the  fundamental  laws 
ascribed  to  him.  Probably  Jesus  knew  how  to 
write,  but  we  have  no  knowledge  of  any  literary 
work  which  he  produced. 

Again,  we  in  modern  times  and  in  our  western 
world,  with  our  more  orderly  methods  of  think- 
ing and  working,  can  hardly  understand  how  the 
ancients  composed  their  books.  Today  an  author 
writes  out  his  thoughts  in  continuous,  logical  se- 
quence; and  if  he  quotes  he  gives  references,  is 
conscientious  about  using  materials,  and  would 
not  think  of  publishing  his  work  over  the  name 
of  some  other  and  more  illustrious  personage.  Not 
so,  however,  in  the  Bible  times.  Says  Professor 
Driver,  of  Oxford : 

The  authors  of  the  Hebrew  historical  books — except 
the  shortest,  as  Ruth  and  Esther — do  not,  as  a  modern 
historian  would  do,  rewrite  the  matter  in  their  own 
language;  they  excerpt  from  the  sources  at  their  dis- 
posal such  passages  as  are  suitable  to  their  purpose,  and 
incorporate  them  in  their  work,  sometimes  adding  mat- 
ter of  their  own,  but  often  (as  it  seems)  introducing 
only  such  modifications  of  form  as  are  necessary  for  the 
purpose  of  fitting  them  together,  or  accommodating  them 
to  their  plan.  The  Hebrew  historiographer,  as  we  know 
him,  is  essentially  a  compiler  or  arranger  of  pre-exist- 
ing documents;  he  is  not  himself  an  original  author.10 

Professor  W.  Robertson  Smith  wrote  to  the 
same  effect,  and  said  further : 

10  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  Old  Testament,  p.  $. 


NEW  VIEW  OF  OLD  TESTAMENT  105 

If  a  man  copied  a  book,  it  was  his  to  add  to  and 
modify  as  he  pleased,  and  he  was  not  in  the  least  bound 
to  distinguish  the  old  from  the  new.  If  he  had  two 
books  before  him  to  which  he  attached  equal  worth,  he 
took  large  extracts  from  both,  and  harmonized  them 
by  such  additions  or  modifications  as  he  felt  to  be 
necessary.11 

Understanding  all  this,  we  are  not  surprised 
to  learn  that  many  authors,  desiring  to  gain  cur- 
rency for  their  books,  ascribed  them  to  distin- 
guished persons  of  former  times — as,  for  instance, 
the  writer  of  the  book  of  Daniel  did,  who  is 
thought  to  have  written  his  work  about  168  or 
167  b.  c.j  but  in  the  person  of  the  Daniel  of 
Babylonian  times. 

Now,  in  the  light  of  the  foregoing  considera- 
tions, we  may  take  up  some  of  the  Old  Testament 
writings  and  inquire  about  their  origin  and  struc- 
ture. 

I.    THE  PENTATEUCH 

Naturally  we  begin  with  the  Pentateuch,  pop- 
ularly known  as  the  "five  books  of  Moses" — Gen- 
esis, Exodus,  Leviticus,  Numbers,  and  Deuter- 
onomy. The  Jews  called  them,  collectively,  the 
Torah,  or,  as  we  should  say,  the  Law;  but  the 
term  Pentateuch,  meaning  "five-fold  book,"  has 
prevailed  largely  since  the  Septuagint  translation 
(into  Greek)  was  made,  about  the  second  century 
b.  c.    For  two  thousand  years  or  more  tradition 

11  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,   Vol.    Ill,  p.   638,   art.,    "Bible." 


106      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

has  ascribed  the  authorship  of  these  books  to 
Moses,  although  they  themselves  make  no  such 
claim,  excepting  portions  of  Deuteronomy.  Un- 
doubtedly there  is  reason  for  presuming  that  tra- 
dition, which  is  simply  customary  opinion,  has 
some  basis  in  fact,  or  else  it  would  not  exist ;  but 
such  reason  is  slight  in  the  present  instance.  It 
may  be  natural  to  assume  that  the  authorship  of  a 
literary  work  is  singular,  because  ordinarily  this 
is  the  case;  yet  today  we  have  examples  of  col- 
laboration, even  in  the  production  of  stories.  It  is 
natural,  perhaps,  to  suppose  that  water  and  air 
are  simple  parts  of  the  material  universe;  but 
modern  chemistry  shows  us  that  they  are  not 
really  simples  at  all,  but  compounds.  It  might  be 
thought  a  natural  presupposition  that  a  ray  of 
sunshine  is  simply  a  stream  of  pure  white  light, 
and,  but  for  science,  one  might  never  have  dream- 
ed that  there  are  over  half  a  dozen  different  colors 
in  it  that  can  be  distinctly  separated  from  one 
another;  yet  such  is  really  the  case,  and  we  have 
only  to  pass  a  ray  of  sunshine  through  a  prism  to 
afford  an  ocular  demonstration  of  the  fact.  Just 
so  it  is  with  the  composition  of  the  Pentateuch: 
without  evidence  to  the  contrary,  we  might  accept 
the  traditional  belief  that  it  is  the  work  of  a  single 
author;  but  upon  a  clear  proof  that  it  is  a  union 
of  several  different  works,  we  are  compelled  to 
give  up  the  customary  notion,  and  accept  the  true 
verdict. 


NEW  VIEW  OF  OLD  TESTAMENT  107 

For  a  century  and  a  half  the  Higher  Critics 
have  been  toiling  patiently  over  this  problem,  and 
they  have  reached,  not,  indeed,  a  unanimous, 
but  a  very  general,  agreement  as  to  the  following 
conclusions : 

1.  That  the  Book  of  Joshua,  immediately  after 
the  Pentateuch,  belongs  with  it  a*  an  organic  part 
of  the  same  great  work ;  so  that  we  should  speak 
of  the  Hexateuch,  or  first  six  books  of  the  Bible, 
as  a  whole. 

2.  That  this  Hexateuch  is  composed  of  four 
different  main  writings  or  documents,  produced  at 
different  times  by  different  authors,  which  were 
finally  welded  together,  with  editorial  additions, 
in  the  early  part  of  the  priestly  period  of  Israel- 
itish  history,  that  is  to  say,  after  the  return  from 
Babylon;  and  that  these  four  main  writings  are 
themselves  more  or  less  composite. 

3.  That  these  four  general  documents  have 
each  such  strongly  marked  characteristics  of  style, 
phraseology  and  "local  color"  as  to  be  easily  dis- 
tinguishable to  the  trained  critic,  in  their  princi- 
pal features;  so  that  they  can  be,  and  have  been, 
separated  and  printed  in  different  types,  or  (as 
in  the  Polychrome  Bible)  in  different  hues,  with 
confirming  results  not  less  striking  than  those 
yielded  by  the  prismatic  analysis  of  a  ray  of  sun- 
shine. 

Now  it  is  proper  to  ask  how  these  conclusions 
have  been  wrought  out ;  and  a  simple,  concise  ex- 


108       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

planation  is  here  given.  First,  it  had  been  noticed, 
among  other  pecularities,  that  there  are  frequent 
repetitions  of  the  same  things,  but  in  different 
words,  in  the  narratives  of  the  Pentateuch;  and 
especially  that  there  are,  in  Genesis,  two  distinct 
accounts  of  the  creation,  one  of  them  being  in  the 
first  chapter,  and  the  other  in  the  second ;  and  that 
these  vary  considerably.  Second,  it  was  observed 
that  the  first  of  these  accounts  uses  the  word  Elo- 
him  (translated  God)  to  represent  the  Divine  Be- 
ing, while  the  other  uses  the  term  which  we  com- 
monly render  by  our  English  word  "Jehovah." 
This  discovery  was  made  by  Jean  Astruc,  a 
French  physician,  in  1753,  who  was  the  first  to 
conjecture  and  demonstrate  the  compilation  of 
the  book  from  at  least  two  older  narratives. 
Third,  this  theory  was  shortly  afterward  (1779) 
taken  up  in  Germany  by  Eichhorn,  who  made  a 
list  of  several  other  words  peculiar  to  each  Gene- 
sis-writer, the  existence  of  which  had  been  in- 
ferred from  Astruc's  disclosure;  and  the  clues 
thus  furnished  were  followed  up,  by  Ilgen 
(1798)  and  many  subsequent  critics,  with  slowly 
increasing  results  elaborating,  correcting,  and 
confirming  various  theories,  until  the  present  con- 
sensus of  opinion  has  been  established.12 

12  A  brief  sketch  of  this  development  is  given  by  Professor 
George  F.  Moore  in  his  introduction  to  Bacon's  Genesis  of  Gen- 
esis; also  G.  A.  Smith's  Modem  Criticism  and  the  Preaching  of 
the  Old  Testament,  pp.  33-41;  Briggs,  Introduction  to  the  Study 
of  Holy  Scripture,  pp.  378  ff. 


NEW  VIEW  OF  OLD  TESTAMENT  109 

Today,  then,  it  may  be  said  that  the  over- 
whelming judgment  of  critical  scholarship  is  to 
the  effect  that  the  Hexateuch  as  we  now  have  it 
originated  in  substantially  the  following  manner : 

First,  there  was  produced,  in  the  ninth  century 
before  Christ,  an  historical  work  which  we  call 
the  Jehovistic  Writing,  or,  more  briefly  the  Jehov- 
ist  (or  Jahvist),  or  simply  J,  because  of  its  use 
of  the  word  Jehovah  ( Yahweh)  for  God  (because 
also  the  author  belonged  to  the  southern  king- 
dom, Judah).13  Shortly  afterward  a  second  work 
was  produced,  called  now  the  Elohist  Writing,  or 
the  Elohist,  or  E,  so  designated  because  it  em- 
ploys Elohim  for  God  (and  because  also  this 
writer  was  an  Ephraimite).14  Both  of  these 
works  may  be  said  to  have  appeared  between  850 
and  750  b.  c.,15  and  were  subsequently  united. 
Then  a  third  book,  consisting  essentially  of  our 
Deuteronomy,  and  hence  called  the  Deuterono- 
mist,  or  D,  was  produced,  somewhere  between 
660  and  622  b.  c.  and  later  this  was  joined  to  the 
two  preceding  works.16     Next  a  Priestly  Code 

18  See  Bacon's  Genesis  of  Genesis,  p.  ax,  note. 

"  Ibid. 

16  See  Professor  W.  E.  Addis,  Documents  of  the  Hexateuch, 
Vol.  I,  p.  lxxxii;  also  L.  W.  Batten's  The  Old  Testament  from 
the  Modern  Point  of  View  (James  Pott  &  Co.,  1899),  chap,  iv; 
and  especially  Professor  C.  F.  Kent's  The  Student's  Old  Testa- 
ment, Vol.  I,  with  table  giving  classification  of  analyzed  contents, 
and  the  parallel   narratives  in   a  new   translation. 

19  Respecting  the  date  of  Deuteronomy,  see  Addis,  Docu- 
ments of  the  Hexateuch,  Vol.  II  (1898),  for  a  reconsideration  of 
the   question.      See   also   articles  on    Deuteronomy   in   Encyclopedia 


110      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

was  written,  not  far  from  500  b.  c,  in  the  inter- 
est of  the  temple  and  the  ritual ;  and  this,  giving  a 
kind  of  skeleton  of  Israelitish  history,  covers  it 
with  the  flesh  and  blood  of  ceremonial  legislation. 
Authorities  differ  somewhat  sharply  as  to  the 
date  of  this  writing,  but  not  as  to  its  existence. 
Finally,  about  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century,  all 
these  documents  were  united  by  one  or  more  edi- 
tors or  redactors,  who  made  some  changes  and 
additions,  and  were  henceforth  promulgated  as 
the  Tor  ah  of  the  Jewish  people.17 

Biblica  and  Hastings'  Dictionary  of  the  Bible;  J.  Estlin  Carpenter 
and  C  Harford  Battersby,  The  Hexateuch  (1900),  chap,  x;  and 
Driver's  Introduction,   chap,   on   Deuteronomy. 

17  Professor  Charles  A.  Briggs  describes  the  situation  thus: 
"Looking  at  the  facts  of  the  case,  we  note  that  the  careful 
analysis  of  the  Hexateuch  by  so  large  a  number  of  the  ablest 
biblical  scholars  of  the  age  has  brought  about  general  agreement 
as  to  the  following  points:  (a)  An  Elohistic  writing  extending 
through  the  Hexateuch,  written  by  a  priestly  writer,  commonly, 
therefore,  designated  by  P.  (b)  A  Jahvistic  writing,  also  ex- 
tending through  the  Hexateuch,  designated  by  J.  (c)  A  second 
Elohistic  writing  in  close  connection  with  the  Jahvist,  designated 
by  E.  (d)  The  Deuteronomic  writing,  chiefly  in  Deuteronomy 
and  Joshua,  with  a  few  traces  in  the  earlier  books,  designated 
by  D.  (e)  These  writings  have  been  compacted  by  redactors  who 
first  combined  J  with  E,  then  J  E  with  D,  and  at  last  JED 
with  P.  Notwithstanding  the  careful  way  in  which  these  docu- 
ments have  been  compacted  into  a  higher  unity  by  these  suc- 
cessive editings,  the  documents  may  be  distinguished  by  char- 
acteristic differences,  not  only  in  the  use  of  the  divine  names, 
but  also  in  language  and  style;  in  religious,  doctrinal,  and  moral 
conceptions;  in  various  interpretations  of  the  same  historic  per- 
sons and  events,  and  in  their  plans  and  methods  of  composi- 
tion; differences  which  are  no  less  striking  than  those  which 
characterize  the  four  Gospels." — The  Higher  Criticism  of  the  Hexa- 
teuch, p.  68. 

Elsewhere  the  same  scholar  says:  "There  are  no  Hebrew 
professors  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  so  far  as  I  know,  who 
would   deny   the  literary   analysis   of   the   Pentateuch    into   the    four 


NEW  VIEW  OF  OLD  TESTAMENT  III 

The  discovery  and  elucidation  of  the  foregoing 
facts  constitute  one  of  the  great  achievements  of 
modern  learning.  In  its  way,  the  demonstration 
is  as  important  and  revolutionary  as  was  the  Co- 
pernican  theory  in  astronomy,  or  the  Darwinian 
doctrine  of  "Natural  Selection."  Its  inevitable 
practical  bearings  cannot  be  fully  indicated  here, 
but  it  may  be  said  that  it  must  afford  us  a  new  con- 
ception of  the  history  of  the  Israelitish  people,  and 
must  modify  to  no  small  extent  our  acceptance 
and  use  of  the  first  six  books  of  the  Bible.  We 
can  no  longer  regard  these  books  as  a  homogene- 
ous, continuous,  orderly,  comprehensive,  accurate 
history  of  the  origin  and  course  of  human  events 
in  this  world ;  or  as  a  textbook  of  science ;  or  even 
as  a  compendium  of  morals  and  religion.  We 
must  regard  them  rather  as  an  accretive  compila- 

great  documents.  The  professors  of  Hebrew  in  the  Universities 
of  Oxford,  Cambridge,  Edinburgh,  and  tutors  in  a  large  number 
of  theological  colleges,  hold  to  the  same  opinion.  A  very  con- 
siderable number  of  the  Hebrew  professors  of  America  are  in 
accord  with  them.  There  are,  indeed,  a  few  professional  scholars 
who  hold  to  the  traditional  opinion,  but  these  are  in  a  hopeless 
minority.  I  doubt  whether  there  is  any  question  of  scholarship 
whatever  in  which  there  is  a  greater  agreement  among  scholars 
than  in  this  question  of  the  literary  analysis  of  the  Hexateuch." — 
Presbyterian  Review,   April,    1887. 

Similar  testimonies  from  other  writers  might  be  easily  ad- 
duced, but  would  needlessly  encumber  these  pages.  Besides  the 
references  already  given,  see  Professor  J.  E.  McFadyen's  Old 
Testament  Criticism  and  the  Christian  Church  (1903),  chap.  Hi, 
for  a  good  account  of  differences  of  opinion  among  the  critics, 
with  an  admirable  summary  of  general  agreements.  Driver's  In- 
troduction and  Kent's  Student's  Old  Testament,  Vol.  I,  will  be 
likely  to  be  most  serviceable  to  the  general  reader.  The  Documents 
of  the  Hexateuch  (1892-98),  in  two  vols,  by  W.  E.  Addis,  is  a 
valuable  work. 


112       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

tion  of  various  historical  sketches,  comprising  an- 
cient fragments  of  story  and  song,  legend  and 
myth,  some  of  which  have  drifted  down  from  the 
time  of  Moses  or  beyond;  and  comprising  also 
connected  tales,  ritualistic  ordinances,  codes  of 
laws,  and  earnest  religious  instructions  and  ap- 
peals— all  expressive  of  the  ideas,  faith,  and  cus- 
toms of  the  Hebrews  at  different  periods  of  their 
national  life.  By  this  literature,  with  an  outline 
of  Hebrew  history  clearly  in  mind,  we  may  trace 
and  illustrate,  with  fresh  interest  and  deep  sym- 
pathy, the  progress  of  the  nation  and  the  develop- 
ment of  the  national  religion;18  without  such  an 
historical  sketch,  and  without  an  understanding 
of  the  composite  character  of  these  ancient  books, 
our  reading  of  them  must  continue  to  produce  in- 
tellectual confusion,  however  they  may  imbue  us 
with  an  earnestly  devout  spirit.  With  the  sketch 
and  the  analysis  before  us,  we  may  have  the  bless- 
ing of  clear  information,  together  with  the  same 
earnestly  devout  spirit;  and  the  information  will 
be  true — we  shall  be  no  longer  out  of  harmony 
with  modern  knowledge. 

II.      OTHER   WRITINGS 

In  a  similar  way  we  must  revise  the  traditional 
opinion  of  many  of  the  other  Old  Testament 

18  For  the  clearer,  truer'  insight  into  the  nature  and  pro- 
cess of  this  development  which  the  new  learning  affords,  see 
Professor  Karl  Budde's  Religion  of  Israel  to  the  Exile  (Putnam, 
1899). 


NEW  VIEW  OF  OLD  TESTAMENT  1 13 

books.  Limits  of  space  forbid  a  treatment  of  all 
these,  and,  indeed,  allow  only  the  briefest  re- 
marks concerning  a  few  of  them.  The  reader 
who  cares  to  pursue  his  inquiries  further  may  ob- 
tain instruction  from  some  of  the  works  already 
mentioned,  and  it  is  hoped  that  sufficient  interest 
will  have  been  awakened  by  this  cursory  chapter 
to  prompt  to  such  more  extensive  and  particular 
study.  The  whole  subject  is  engaging,  enlight- 
ening, and  wonderfully  profitable. 

1.  Following  the  Hexateuch  is  the  book  of 
Judges,  consisting  of  narratives  that  vividly  de- 
pict the  social  conditions  prevailing  in  Palestine 
between  the  Conquest  and  the  days  of  Samuel. 
The  work  is  believed  to  have  been  drawn  from 
some  of  the  same  sources,  oral  and  written,  which 
entered  into  the  earlier  documents  of  the  Hexa- 
teuch, and  to  have  been  compiled  by  an  unknown 
writer  shortly  before  or  in  the  time  of  the  Exile 
(650-550  b.  c).  It  contains  later  editorial  addi- 
tions, and  gives  a  strongly  religious  interpreta- 
tion of  the  history  of  the  remote  period  which  it 
covers.19 

2.  The  two  books  of  Samuel  (they  were  only 
one  originally;  the  Septuagint  divided  them)  take 
up  the  history  of  Israel  where  the  Hexateuch 
leaves  it,  and  carry  forward  the  account  nearly 
through  the  reign  of  David.  They  partake  largely 

*•  See  Bennett  and  Adeney's  "Introduction;"  Toy's  "History 
of  the  Religion  of  Israel;"  and  G.  F.  Moore's  "Judges"  in  the 
International   Critical   Commentary,   Scribner    (T.   &  T.    Clark). 


H4       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

of  the  character  of  Judges,  but  are  thought  to 
have  been  composed  somewhat  earlier. 

3.  The  two  books  of  Kings,  constituting  a 
single  work,  like  I  and  II  Samuel,  bring  the  his- 
tory down  to  the  Babylonian  Captivity.  They 
refer  frequently  to  other  writings  not  known  to 
us,  such  as  the  Book  of  the  Acts  of  Solomon,  the 
Books  of  the  Chronicles  of  the  Kings  of  Israel, 
and  the  Books  of  the  Chronicles  of  the  Kings  of 
Judah.  The  work  is  Deuteronomic  in  character, 
and  was  substantially  completed  before  the  end  of 
the  Exile,  only  a  few  portions  being  subsequently 
added.  Like  all  the  preceding  works,  it  is  com- 
posite in  structure. 

4.  I  and  II  Chronicles  are  a  duplicate20  and 
inferior  history,  originally  constituting,  with  Ezra 
and  Nehemiah,  a  single  work.  It  undertakes  to 
cover  the  history  from  Adam  to  the  end  of  Nehe- 
miah's  reign,  is  compiled  of  extracts  from  earlier 
documents,  and  is  dominated  by  the  priestly  spirit. 
Dr.  Driver  dates  all  these  writings  not  earlier  than 
332  b.  c.21  Professor  Toy  dates  them  about 
300 ;22  while  Bennett  and  Adeney  say  300-250.23 

5.  The  remaining  portions  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, especially  the  great  Prophets,  the  Psalms, 
and  Job,  are  altogether  too  important  to  be  con- 

20  The  Septuagint  title,  "Paralipomena,"  correctly  indicates  the 
character  of  the  work  as  duplicate  and  supplementary. 

21  Introduction,  pp.  486,  511. 

*a  Judaism  and   Christianity,   p.   55. 
23  Biblical  Introduction,  pp.   108,   109. 


NEW  VIEW  OF  OLD  TESTAMENT  1 15 

sidered  in  a  few  pages ;  and  this  chapter  is  already 
long  enough  to  have  served  its  main  purpose, 
which  has  been  merely  to  afford  a  glimpse  of  the 
new  view  of  the  Old  Testament  resulting  from 
modern  scholarship.  The  salient  features  of  this 
view  which  have  been  thus  far  presented  may  be 
taken  as  a  hint  of  the  changed  aspects  that  the 
other  books,  just  mentioned,  may  be  expected  to 
assume  upon  due  study.  The  reader  will  learn 
that  there  were  earlier  and  later  prophets  in  Is- 
rael; that  the  prophetical  writings,  as  they  have 
come  down  to  us,  are  more  or  less  composite; 
that  the  Psalms  are  mostly  late  productions,  ori- 
ginating in  the  period  after  the  Exile,  and  are  re- 
ligious poems  or  hymns  voicing  the  spiritual  as- 
piration and  struggle  of  the  Jewish  nation;  that 
the  Proverbs  are  collections  of  wise  sayings,  be- 
longing to  what  is  called  the  Wisdom  Literature 
of  Israel,  and  necessarily  written  by  different  au- 
thors at  different  times;  while  Job  is  a  sublime 
poem  grappling  with  the  great  problem  of  the 
suffering  of  the  just  man,  and  produced  by  some 
unknown  writer,  with  probably  later  additions, 
shortly  before  the  Exile,  or  possibly  as  late  as  300 
b.  c. — it  is  impossible  to  determine  the  exact  date 
of  such  a  work.24  Each  of  these  subjects,  in  itself, 
is  a  large  and  instructive  topic,  of  profound  in- 
terest and  importance  to  one  who  really  cares  to 

2*  "The  Book  of  Job  may  spring  from  any  date  between  the 
Exile  and  300  b  c." — Professor  Geo.  Adam  Smith,  Modern  Criti- 
cism,   etc.,    p.    286. 


Ii6       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

know  something  of  the  history  and  character  of 
this  sacred,  noble,  inspiring  literature.  Happily, 
much  information  respecting  each  is  now  avail- 
able, and  those  who  have  read  this  chapter  to  the 
present  point  are  urged  to  go  on  with  their  study 
by  consulting  other  works,  more  learned  as  well 
as  more  particular  and  complete. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  many  matters  of 
detail  are  still  unsettled,  many  problems  are  still 
unsolved.  The  analysis  of  the  Hexateuch,  as 
well  as  that  of  the  other  composite  works,  is  by  no 
means  perfect  or  fully  agreed  upon  by  scholars, 
especially  in  its  minute  phases;  quite  likely,  such 
entire  agreement  may  never  be  attained,  and  the 
precise  dates  of  many  portions  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment may  never  be  absolutely  fixed.  But  enough 
has  been  demonstrated  beyond  question,  in  the 
broader  aspects  of  the  case,  to  call  for  a  recon- 
struction of  the  traditional  conception  both  of 
Hebrew  history  and  of  the  origin  of  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures.  As  this  reconstruction  comes  gradu- 
ally to  be  wrought  out,  and  shall  at  length  become 
clear  and  familiar,  first  among  university  profes- 
sors and  ministers,  then  among  Sunday-school 
teachers,  and  at  last  in  the  popular  mind,  it  will 
be  the  means  of  a  great  education  regarding  the 
place  which  Israel  has  filled  in  the  world,  regard- 
ing the  works  and  ways  of  Divine  Providence 
among  the  nations,  and  regarding  the  peculiar  ex- 
cellences of  those  ancient  writings  which  have 


NEW  VIEW  OF  OLD  TESTAMENT  117 

served  to  convey  to  mankind  the  Word  of  Life, 
and  which  constitute  so  large  a  part  of  what  we 
justly  call  our  Holy  Bible. 

If,  under  this  new  view  of  the  Old  Testament, 
the  individual  writer  of  Scripture  seems  to  be  of 
less  importance  than  hitherto,  the  importance  of 
the  nation  increases;  so  that  the  Old  Testament, 
or  almost  any  given  book  in  it,  becomes  not  merely 
the  voice  of  a  single  soul,  but  rather  the  voice  of 
a  people,  expressing  its  deep  longing,  its  expand- 
ing life,  its  growing  ethical  and  religious  faith, 
and  its  intensifying  devotion  to  the  one  living  and 
true  God,  whose  mighty  providence  is  forever 
its  refuge  and  strength.25 

CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE    A 

Principal  Events  in  Hebrew  History 

Authorities. 
Toy1       Kautzsch3     Budde* 
(1882)  (1897)  (1899) 

B.    C.  B.    C.  B.    C. 

Exodus    from    Egypt    under    Moses..  1330  81320  81250 

Invasion    of    Canaan 1300  ai28o  D1200 

David    made    king 1040  aiooo  1000 

Division   of   the   kingdom 960  8933  933 

Accession  of  Ahab  of  Israel 903  8876  876-54 

Downfall     of     Omri     dynasty 842  842  842 

The    prophets    Amos    and    Hosea....  785  779~43  760-45 

The     call    of    Isaiah ....  740  740 

Accession     of     Hezekiah     of    Judah..  726  ....  725 

Fall     of     the     northern     kingdom....  720  722  722 

Siege   of  Jerusalem   by    Sennacherib..  ....  701  701 

Manasseh,  king  of  Judah 639  — 643  696-41 

Josiah,    king    of    Judah 639  640-9  639-8 

26  After  reading  the  above  chapter  a  careful  perusal  of 
Budde's  Religion  of  Israel  to  the  Exile  (Putnam)  and  of  Cheney's 
Jewish  Religious  Life  After  the  Exile  (Putnam)  would  prove 
illuminating   as   well   as   keenly   interesting. 


n8      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Authorities. 

Toy1       Kautzsch*  Budde* 

(1882)  £1897)  (1899) 

B.  C.  B.  C.  B.  C. 

The     prophet     Jeremiah 626-580  628 —  626 — 

Reforms    of   Josiah    based    on    Deut.  .          ....  622  621 

Death    of    Josiah    at    Megiddo 609  609  604 

First    capture    of    Jerusalem    by    Neb- 
uchadnezzar               ....  ....  597 

Fall  of  Jerusalem,  beginning  of  Baby- 
lonian    Captivity     586  586  586 

Babylon    taken    by    Cyrus 539  539  53* 

Return   of  some   Jews   to   Canaan....           536  8536  .... 

Visit    of    Ezra    to    Jerusalem 457  458  .... 

Nehemiah     in     Jerusalem 444  445  •  •  •  • 

Building  of  Samaritan  temple  at  Ger- 

ezim     • »335  •••• 

The   Jews    submit   to    Alexander    the 

Great     332  .... 

Maccabaean     War ai65  166  .... 

Jerusalem    taken    by    Pompey 63  ....  .... 

a — about,     b — before. 

1  History  of  the  Religion  of  Israel. 

2  The  Literature  of  the  Old  Testament,  with  chronological 
tables  (Putnam)  translated  by  John  Taylor.  Especially  full  and 
valuable.     See  pp.   167-205. 

*  Religion   of  Israel   to   the   Exile. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE    B 
Approximate   Dates  of   Old  Testament   Books 

A  very  brief  tabulation  of  the  more  important  dates, 
some  of  which  are  necessarily  very  uncertain,  and  are 
only  offered  provisionally,  will  show  at  a  glance  the 
main  bearings  of  the  critical  reconstruction  of  the  lit- 
erary history.1 

B.C. 

Traditions,   war  ballads,   and   other   songs 1200-1000 

The    prophetic    history    of   the    Jehovist    document 850 

The    prophetic    history    of    the    Elohist    document 750 

Amos    and    Hosea 75°_735 

Isaiah     740-700 

Micah     725-690 

Nahum     • 650 

Zephaniah     630 

Deuteronomy  (written  probably  in  Manasseh's  reign),  published.  .621 


NEW  VIEW  OF  OLD  TESTAMENT  Iig 


B.  C. 

Jeremiah     626-586 

Habakkuk     600 

Exile  597  b.  c.  (first  deportation)   586  (second  deportation)  to...  538 

Ezekiel     592-570 

Lamentations    586 

All  the  historical  books  up  to  Kings  edited  in  the  spirit  of 

Deuteronomy     600-560 

Deutero-Isaiah      540 

Haggai     and     Zechariah     530 

Psalter,   collected,   edited,   and  largely  composed 520-150 

Priestly  Code   (Leviticus,  etc.) 500-450 

Malachi     460 

Ruth     450 

Joel,   Jonah,    Obadiah,   Job 450-400 

Pentateuch  in  practically  its  present  form,  before 400 

Chronicles,    Ezra,    Nehemiah 350-250 

Song   of   Songs    350 

Proverbs     300 

Ecclesiastes     250 

Daniel      167 

Esther     1 50 

1  From  Professor  John  E.  McFadyen's  Old  Testament  Criticism 
and  the  Christian  Church,  Appendix,  pp.  369,  370.  The  para- 
graph and  the  table  conclude  the  Appendix,  which  gives  an  ad- 
mirable "Outline  of  the  Results  of  Old  Testament  Criticism."  The 
whole  volume  is  written  in  a  temperate  spirit,  at  once  progressive 
and  conservative   (1903). 

For  a  more  detailed  and  complete  exhibit,  with  a  grouping 
of  dates  into  main  periods,  and  with  an  analysis  of  the  literary 
material,  assigning  particular  parts  to  their  respective  times,  sse 
the  chronological  chart  prefixed  to  Professer  C.  F.  Kent's  Student's 
Old    Testament    (Scribners,    1904),    Vol.    L      Very    valuable. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  NEW  VIEW   OF  THE  NEW   TESTAMENT 

Seeing  that  biblical  criticism  has  given  us  a  new 
and  better  understanding  of  the  Old  Testament, 
we  shall  be  eager  to  learn  what  it  has  to  say  about 
the  New  Testament.  Nor  is  its  word  less  clear 
and  strong,  less  instructive  and  quickening  in  the 
latter  than  in  the  former.  The  pages  of  both 
sets  of  Scripture  are  more  luminous  with  truth 
and  beauty  now  than  ever  before,  because  of  the 
increasing  light  which  the  lamp  of  learning  has 
shed  upon  them;  and  it  is  our  inestimable  privi- 
lege to  read  their  divine  meanings  with  a  larger 
measure  of  intellectual  and  spiritual  satisfaction 
than  has  been  vouchsafed  to  any  former  genera- 
tion. If  we  shall  but  prove  worthy  of  our  inherit- 
ance by  trying  to  enter  into  its  full  possession  and 
proper  use,  we  shall  be  rewarded  by  some  grander 
outlooks  and  enriched  by  some  deeper  experiences 
than  we  have  dreamed  of  hitherto. 

The  first  thing  to  claim  our  attention  is  the  fact 
that  a  close  relationship  exists  between  the  two 
Testaments.  The  literary  activity  of  the  Jewish 
people  continued  down  into  the  first  century  of 
our  era,  and  some  of  its  products  may  be  seen  in 
the  apocryphal  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  as 
well  as  in  the  writings  of  Philo  1  and  Josephus.2 

1  20    B.    C.-40    A.    D.  2  37-95    A.    D. 

I20 


NEW  VIEW  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT         121 

The  first  main  collection  of  Hebrew  Scriptures, 
called  the  Law,  had  not  been  canonized  until  about 
the  time  of  Ezra,  or  445-440  b.  c.  ;  the  second 
called  the  Prophets,  about  200  b.  c.  ;  and  the  third, 
called  the  Hagiographa — including  the  Psalms, 
the  Proverbs,  Job,  Esther,  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  the 
Chronicles  and  Daniel — did  not  fully  receive  this 
distinction  until  about  the  close  of  the  first  Chris- 
tian century.3  While  the  deep,  free  and  powerful 
spirit  of  the  old  Israelitish  prophets  was  wanting 
in  the  later  Judaism,  and  a  narrow,  rigid  legalism 
took  its  place,  yet  on  the  whole  there  was  some 
progress  in  thought,  and  the  national  faith  was 
perhaps  more  intense  than  ever.  The  ideas  and 
ideals,  the  traditions  and  hopes  of  the  historic 
form  of  religion  were  still  vigorously  maintained 
and  were  immediately  implicated  in  the  origin  of 
Christianity.  Hence  we  cannot  go  far  in  a  correct 
treatment  or  comprehension  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment unless  we  see  its  vital  connection  with  the 
Old.4    The  two  fields  of  inquiry  lie  side  by  side; 

8  "After  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  in  70  A.  D.,  the  Jewish 
rabbins  established  themselves  at  Jamnia.  Two  assemblies  seem 
to  have  been  held  there;  one  about  90  a.  dv  the  other  in  118  A.  D. 
At  these  assemblies,  under  the  presidency  of  Eleazar  ben  Azariah, 
the  canonicity  of  the  Song  of  Songs  and  Ecclesiastes  was  dis- 
cussed. They  were  finally  decided  to  be  canonical,  and  so  the 
third  Canon  of  the  Old  Testament  was  closed  for  the  Hebrews." — 
Briggs,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Holy  Scripture,  p.  130.  See 
especially   Ryle,    Canon   of  the  Old   Testament   (1892),   pp.    198  f. 

*  Indeed,  the  Old  Testament  alone,  apart  from  the  Apoc- 
rypha, is  not  sufficient  for  a  full  illumination  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament. See  Introduction  to  the  Temple  Bible,  volume  on  the 
"Apocrypha,   Esdras  I  and  II." 


122      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

the  critical  study  of  the  one  collection  of  sacred 
writings  is  directly  related  to  that  of  the  other; 
essentially  the  same  principles  must  prevail  in  both 
cases;  and  in  some  respects  the  results  in  the  one 
instance  are  quite  similar  to  those  in  the  other. 

If,  then,  it  was  right  to  say,  in  the  preceding 
chapter,  that  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  are  to 
be  regarded  as  literature,  and  are  to  be  studied 
with  reference  to  the  history  of  the  people  that 
produced  them,  the  same  two  cardinal  rules  must 
guide  us  in  dealing  with  the  New  Testament 
Scriptures.  Otherwise  we  shall  make  little  head- 
way in  our  effort  to  understand  them.  Until  we 
can  look  upon  them  as  literary  documents  bearing 
the  peculiar  birth-marks  of  their  time,  we  can- 
not make  them  seem  natural  or  real,  and  cannot 
relate  them  to  human  life  in  an  impressive  and 
truly  helpful  way.  It  is  one  of  the  principal  faults 
of  the  old-fashioned  method  of  reading  them  that 
an  air  of  mystery,  unnaturalness,  unreality  has 
been  inevitably  thrown  about  them;  and  it  is  one 
of  the  chief  services  of  the  new  mode  of  treating 
them  that  it  has  steadily  insisted  upon  viewing 
them  primarily  as  the  natural  products  of  reli- 
gious minds  working  normally,  influenced  by  the 
conditions  of  their  age  and  country,  and  employ- 
ing language  in  the  ordinary  manner  of  other 
writers.  Thus  it  teaches  us  to  let  these  works 
speak  their  own  message  in  their  own  way,  to 
listen  humbly  and   reverently  to  their  slightest 


NEW  VIEW  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT  123 

word,  and  to  try  to  find  the  living  reality  and 
power  with  which  they  are  able  to  touch  our 
hearts;  leaving  whatever  divine  character  they 
may  possess  or  whatever  divine  truth  they  may 
contain  to  be  apprehended  as  a  result  rather  than 
as  a  beginning  of  our  inquiry.  Assuredly  we 
ought  to  have  sufficient  confidence  in  their  divine 
quality  to  trust  it  to  attest  itself  in  due  time  by 
such  a  procedure  on  our  part. 

Now  the  period  covered  by  the  New  Testa- 
ment writings  is  comparatively  brief.  Not  more 
than  one  hundred  years  were  required  to  embrace 
all  those  creative  literary  activities  which  took 
shape  in  these  priceless  documents;  and  most  of 
them,  and  by  all  means  the  most  important  of 
them,  excepting  possibly  the  Gospel  of  John,5  were 
produced  within  the  first  century.  Of  course  it 
was  the  career  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  work  of 
his  followers  which  gave  rise  to  this  literature, 
and  it  constitutes  our  best  source  of  information 
regarding  them  and  the  events  connected  with 
them.  Yet  it  is  not  our  only  source.  As  in  the 
case  of  the  Old  Testament,  so  in  that  of  the 
New,  many  supplementary  works,  large  and 
small,  were  written  which  were  never  canonized 
as  Scripture.  Nearly  fifty  such  are  still  extant,  in 
whole  or  in  part;  while  perhaps  as  many  more 

6  The  question  regarding  the  date  of  the  Fourth  Gospel, 
whether  falling  in  the  last  decade  of  the  first  century  or  in  the 
first  decade  (or  even  later)  of  the  second  century,  is  not  yet 
fully   settled. 


124       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

have  perished,  and  are  known  to  scholars  only  by 
quotations  from  them  or  references  to  them  in 
other  Christian  writings.  The  chief  of  those 
which  have  been  preserved  may  be  seen  and  read 
as  the  New  Testament  Apocrypha,6  They  are 
interesting  and  highly  valuable  for  the  side  light 
which  they  throw  upon  the  thought  and  life  of  the 
early  Church;  they  show,  more  fully  than  the 
New  Testament  alone  can  do,  the  depth  and  force 
of  the  Christian  movement ;  and  they  serve  to  in- 
crease our  appreciation  of  the  fact  that  the  New 
Testament  writings  themselves  are  to  be  treated, 
first  of  all,  as  literature.7  We  may  be  assured, 
however,  that  these  latter  are,  on  the  whole,  un- 
questionably the  best  literature  culled  from  the  en- 
tire mass — the  seed-wheat  of  the  full  harvest. 
The  law  of  "the  survival  of  the  fittest"  prevails 
in  the  realm  of  human  products,  as  well  as  in  the 
animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms;  and  we  may  be 
confident  that  the  sway  of  this  law  has  given  us 


•  A  good  English  edition  is  The  Apocryphal  New  Testament 
being  all  the  Gospels,  Epistles  and  Other  Pieces  now  extant,  etc., 
not  included  in  the  New  Testament,  London,  printed  for  William 
Howe,  1820.  Better  is  the  Temple  Bible  volume  on  the  "New  Testa- 
ment Apocrypha,"  recent.  (London:  Dent;  Philadelphia:  Lippin- 
cott.) 

7  Those  who  would  like  to  know  more  about  this  extra- 
canonical  literature,  and  the  reasons  for  its  rejection,  should  make 
some  study  of  the  history  of  the  New  Testament  Canon,  a  special 
but  exceedingly  instructive  branch  of  inquiry.  For  this  purpose 
they  may  consult  Westcott,  The  Canon  of  the  New  Testament; 
Julicher,  Introduction  to  the  New  Testament,  pp.  459-566;  and  E. 
C   Moore,   The  New  Testament  in  the  Christian  Church,   chap.   II. 


NEW  VIEW  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT  125 

the  best  fruits  of  early  Christianity  in  our  present 
New  Testament.8 

This  collection  of  writings  comprises  twenty- 
seven  di  fie  rent  books,  large  and  small — though 
none  of  them  is  very  large,  and  several  are  very 
small.  The  arrangement  of  them  is  familiar :  first, 
four  fragmentary  biographies  of  Jesus,  called 
"Gospels ;"  second,  an  historical  book,  "The  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,"  giving  some  account  of  the 
spread  of  primitive  Christianity;  then,  twenty- 
one  letters,  of  which  fourteen  have  been  ascribed 
to  Paul,  two  to  Peter,  one  to  Jude,  one  to  James, 
and  three  to  John;  and  lastly,  an  apocalyptical 
work,  called  "The  Revelation,"  and  ascribed  to 
John  also. 

Now  when  and  by  whom  were  these  books 
written ;  how  reliable  are  they ;  and  what  do  they 
disclose  concerning  the  origin  and  primary  char- 
acter of  Christianity?  These  are  the  essential 
questions  which  have  engaged  the  New  Testa- 
ment critics  in  study  and  controversy  for  a  long 
time.  Neither  the  study  nor  the  controversy  is 
yet  finished;  there  are  still  many  unsettled  ques- 

8  "As  a  simple  matter  of  fact,  too,  we  can  not  overlook  the 
immense  difference  between  the  New  Testament  as  a  whole  and 
even  the  best  of  the  Christian  literature  of  the  second  century. 
We  are  interested  in  the  later  literature;  but  it  simply  does  not 
seem  to  us  to  possess  any  such  significance  as  the  New  Testament. 
However  we  may  explain  the  difference,  we  are  bound  to  recog- 
nize the  fact.  The  explanation  is  perhaps  not  far  to  seek — the 
immediate,  almost  unconscious,  reflection  of  the  greatness  of 
Christ's  own  personality." — Henry  Churchill  King,  Reconstruction 
in  Theology,   1901,  p.  166. 


126       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

tions,  as  well  as  wide  divergences  of  opinion 
among  eminent  scholars.  Nevertheless,  certain 
grand  results  have  been  reached  which  may  be 
fairly  regarded  as  established;  and  these  are  of 
such  a  nature  as  to  give  us  a  general  conception 
of  the  origin  and  character  of  the  New  Testament 
Scriptures  so  radically  different  from  the  tradi- 
tionary conception  as  to  call  for  its  clear  presenta- 
tion, in  order  that  it  may  be  understood  and 
judged  by  each  reader  according  to  his  ability. 

It  is  impossible,  in  a  single  chapter,  to  consider 
all  of  the  New  Testament  writings,  or  to  state 
any  but  a  few  of  the  main  facts  respecting  those 
principal  portions  of  the  literature  which  can  be 
briefly  discussed.  These  facts  will  have  to  be  tak- 
en merely  as  a  hint  of  methods  pursued  and  con- 
clusions indicated  in  the  treatment  of  the  remain- 
ing portions  in  the  numerous  works  of  the  biblical 
scholars. 

A  preliminary  remark  should  be  made :  The 
dates,  titles,  and  ascriptions  of  authorship  of  the 
New  Testament  books,  as  given  in  the  Authorized 
Version,  are  not  very  trustworthy.  They  were 
mainly  supplied  by  copyists,  translators,  or  edi- 
tors, and  must  be  often  disregarded.  Moreover, 
the  fact  that  a  given  book  is  written  in  the  person 
of  a  certain  author  is  not  final  proof  that  he  wrote 
it.  The  New  Testament  age  was  not  a  critical, 
scientific  one,  and  it  was  no  unusual  (or,  as  then 
considered,  improper)  thing  for  a  writer  to  attach 


NEW  VIEW  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT  127 

the  name  of  some  distinguished  person  to  his  own 
production,  in  order  to  draw  attention  to  it.9 
Such  a  proceeding  was  not  peculiar  to  the  New 
Testament  authors,  and  it  in  nowise  reflects  upon 
their  honor.  The  question  of  authorship  in  each 
particular  case  must  be  determined  by  the  evi- 
dence.10 

Now  the  fact  that  the  gospels  come  first  in  the 
New  Testament  has  doubtless  led  many  to  suppose 
that  they  were  written  first.  But  they  were  among 
the  latest  to  assume  their  present  form,  and  were 
placed  first  in  the  existing  arrangement  of  New 
Testament  books  because  of  their  foremost  rank 
in  importance,  and  also  because  they  record  the 
life  of  Jesus,  which  came  first  in  the  history  of 
Christianity.  The  earliest  New  Testament  writ- 
ings were  some  of  the  letters  of  Paul.    It  is  worth 

9  "Such  writers  (apocalyptists)  ascribed  their  ideas  to  'Ezra,' 
or  to  'Enoch,'  or  to  'Daniel,'  and  to  other  great  ancestors.  For 
they  came  easily  to  fancy  that  those  old  heroes  had  had  such 
visions;  and  when  the  title  'Ezra'  or  'Esdras'  was  put  at  the  head 
of  the  composition,  it  was  set  there  in  perfect  honesty,   and  out  of 

conviction    that    this    was    the    will    of    the    great    Spirit [A 

writer]  would  therefore  unhesitatingly  lay  his  writings  on  the  knees 
of  anyone  whom  he  counted  his  great  hero." — Temple  Bible,  Intro- 
duction to  Esdras  I  and  II,  pp.  xix  and  xx. 

10  "Familiar  assumption  has  obscured  to  our  minds  the  fact 
that  most  of  the  New  Testament  writings  really  come  to  us  with- 
out a  title-page,  destitute  of  date  or  author's  name,  save  such  as 
late,  ambiguous,  and  often  contradictory  tradition  has  supplied. 
Some  lack  beginning  (Hebrews),  or  ending  (Mark).  The  letters 
of  Paul,  fortunately,  are  carefully  superscribed  with  the  names  of 
author  and  recipients;  but  without  some  idea  of  the  circumstances 
of  the  correspondence  on  both  sides,  they  will  be  scarcely  better 
understood  than  the  audible  half  of  a  telephone  conversation;  and 
Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  John,  Acts,  Hebrews,  i,  2,  and  3  John  are 
anonymous." — B.    W.    Bacon,    Introduction   to   the  New   Test.,   p.    2. 


128       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

while  to  try  to  recall  the  circumstances  under 
which  he  began  to  write. 

I.    THE  EPISTLES  OF  PAUL 

Next  to  Jesus  the  principal  character  that 
moves  before  us  in  the  pages  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  the  apostle  Paul.  Who  was  he  ?  A  bril- 
liant young  Jew,  a  native  of  Tarsus,  a  consider- 
able city,  in  southeastern  Asia  Minor.  Hia 
Jewish  name  was  Saul,  but  its  gentile  equivalent 
or  substitute  was  Paul.11  It  is  not  likely  that  he 
ever  saw  Jesus  m  the  flesh.  But  he  was  in  Je- 
rusalem not  long  after  the  Crucifixion ;  and,  being 
zealous  for  the  traditions  of  his  fathers,  he  joined 
his  fellow-religionists  in  an  energetic  persecution 
of  those  who  embraced  the  new  "heresy."12  In 
a  short  time — it  may  have  been  two  or  three 
years,   and  it  may  have  been  five  or  six13 — 

11  See  Acts  xiii.  9,  and  Ramsay,  St.  Paul  the  Traveller  and 
the  Roman  Citizen,  pp.  81-83,  for  a  reasonable  explanation. 

18  Acts  xxiv.   14,  A.  V. 

13  The  following  paragraph  and  table,  from  Hastings'  Dictionary 
of  the  Bible,  will  be  of  service  to  readers  who  may  not  have  access 
either  to  this  work  or  to  the  other  references  given: 

"Conclusion. — This  article  may  be  concluded  by  a  compari- 
son of  the  dates  here  adopted  (col.  II)  with  schemes  preferred 
by  three  representative  writers — Harnack  (col.  I),  who  throws 
everything  early;  Lightfoot  (col.  IV),  who  throws  all  the  latter 
part  late;  and  Ramsay  (col.  Ill),  who  investigates  independently, 
but  is  nearer  to  Lightfoot  than  to  Harnack. 

H.  R.  L. 

Crucifixion     29  or  30  29  30  [30] 

St.    Paul's    conversion 30  35-36  33  34 

First    visit    to    Jerus 33  38  35~36  37 

Second  visit  to  Jerus [44]  46  46  45 

First    Missionary    Journey.  45  47  47  48 


NEW  VIEW  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT         129 

from  the  Master's  death  occurred  the  murder  of 
Stephen.  The  witnesses  to  this  crime  "laid  down 
their  garments  at  the  feet  of  a  young  man  named 
Saul"14 — our  Saul;  who  straightway  obtained 
official  sanction  to  continue  the  persecutions,  and 
set  out  for  Damascus  on  the  terrible  errand. 
While  journeying  thither  he  experienced  a  con- 
version which  was  the  turning-point  of  his  life. 
Upon  arriving  in  Damascus  he  espoused  the  new 
faith,  and  publicly  proclaimed  Jesus  as  the 
Messiah. 

Paul's  life  subsequent  to  his  conversion  lasted 
about  thirty  years — it  is  impossible  to  speak  with 
precision,  partly  because  we  do  not  know  the  date 
of  his  death,  and  partly  because  the  rest  of  the 
chronology  has  not  been  made  out  with  cer- 
tainty.15   In  a  general  way  it  may  be  said  that  his 

H.  R.  L. 

Council  at  Jerus.,  2d  M.  J..        47  49  50  51 

Corinth   reached  late   in 48  50  51  52 

Fourth     visit,  to     Jerus.,    3d 

M.    J So  52  53  54 

Ephesus  left 53  55  56  57 

Fifth    visit    to    Jerus.,    arrest 

at   Pentecost 54  56  57  58 

Rome  reached  early   in 57  59  60  61 

Acts  closes  early  in 59  61  62  63 

St.    Peter's    martyrdom 64  64-65  80  64 

St.    Paul's  martyrdom 64  64-65  65  67 

Besides    the    above,     see    the     "Table    of    Approximate     Dates," 

from  B.  W.  Bacon's  Introduction  to  the  New  Testament,  appended 
to  this  chapter. 

14  Acts  vii.   58. 

16  The  chronology  of  Paul's  life  is  at  present  under  fresh  de- 
bate. Recent  discussion  tends  to  throw  back  the  year  of  Jesus' 
death  to  30  a.   d.,   or  even  29,  and  to  put  Paul's  conversion  at  32 


130       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

public  career  divides  itself  roughly  into  three  main 
periods :  first,  a  preliminary  period  of  fourteen  or 
seventeen  years  (according  to  the  reckoning 
which  may  be  adopted),  covering  his  retirement 
at  first  and  his  early  labors  in  Syria  and  Cilicia; 
second,  a  missionary  period  of  nine  or  ten  years, 
comprising  his  extended  journeys  in  Asia  Minor 
and  southeastern  Europe;  and  third,  a  period  of 
captivity,  at  Caesarea  and  Rome,  occupying  four 
years. 

I.  Concerning  the  first  of  these  periods  we 
learn  most  from  Paul's  own  brief,  retrospective 
account : 

But  when  it  was  the  good  pleasure  of  God,  who 
separated  me,  even  from  my  mother's  womb,  and  called 
me  through  his  grace,  to  reveal  his  Son  in  me,  that  I 
might  preach  him  among  the  Gentiles;  immediately  I 
conferred  not  with  flesh  and  blood:  neither  went  I  up 
to  Jerusalem  to  them  which  were  apostles  before  me: 
but  I  went  into  Arabia;  and  again  I  returned  unto  Da- 
mascus. 

Then  after  three  years  I  went  up  to  Jerusalem  to  be- 
come acquainted  with  Peter,16  and  tarried  with  him 
fifteen  days.  But  other  of  the  apostles  saw  I  none, 
except    James    the    Lord's    brother.      Now    touching    the 

or  33  (as  some  say),  or  at  35  or  37  (as  others  hold).  Set 
article  "Chronology,"  sections  64-80,  in  Encyclopedia  Biblica,  Vol.  I; 
"Chronology  of  the  New  Testament"  in  Hastings'  Dictionary  of  the 
Bible,  Vol.  I;  Conybeare  and  Howson's  Life  and  Epistles  of  St. 
Paul,  chronological  table;  B.  W.  Bacon's  The  Story  of  St.  Paul,  p. 
88  ("Paul's  conversion  was  certainly  not  later  than  36,  when 
Caiaphas  was  deposed,  and  probably  was  several  years  earlier"). 
Ramsay  says  the  conversion  was  in  33,  and  may  have  been  in  32; 
and  McGiffert  says,   31   or  32- 

16  This  is  understood  by  Bacon  to  mean  that  Paul  went  to 
learn  Peter's  story  of  the  life  and  work  of  Jesus.  See  The  Story 
of  St.  Paul,  p.  53. 


NEW  VIEW  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT         131 

things  which  I  write  unto  you,  behold,  before  God,  I 
lie  not.  Then  I  came  into  the  regions  of  Syria  and 
Cilicia.  And  I  was  still  unknown  by  face  unto  the 
churches  of  Judea  which  were  in  Christ:  but  they 
only  heard  say,  He  that  once  persecuted  us  now  preach- 
eth  the  faith  of  which  he  once  made  havoc;  and  they 
glorified  God  in  me. 

Then   after   the   space   of   fourteen   years   I   went   up 
again  to  Jerusalem  with  Barnabas,  taking  Titus  also  with 


Thus  the  apostle  rapidly  sketches  the  events 
of  these  early,  formative  years ;  and  not  much  in- 
formation can  be  gleaned  from  other  sources  to 
help  us  fill  in  the  outline  with  details.  We  have 
no  letters  from  him  which  date  from  this 
period.18 

2.  It  was  in  the  second  or  missionary  period 
that  Paul's  literary  activity  commenced,  so  far  as 
his  preserved  writings  enable  us  to  judge.  In 
this  period  were  produced  his  principal  letters, 
namely:  Thessalonians,  Galatians,  Corinthians, 
and  Romans.  The  genuineness  of  II  Thessalo- 
nians is  disputed,  and,  as  already  stated,  the  chro- 
nology is  somewhat  uncertain;  but,  allowing  for 
differences  of  opinion  respecting  these  points  and 
also  respecting  the  date  and  place  of  Galatians, 


"Gal.  i.  15-24. 

18  For  more  complete  information  see  Conybeare  and  How- 
son's  Life  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul;  O.  Cone's  Paul:  the  Man,  Mis- 
sionary, and  Teacher;  Lyman  Abbott's  Life  and  Letters  of  Paul; 
McGiffert's  Apostolic  Age;  Ramsay's  St.  Paul  the  Traveller  and  the 
Roman  Citizen;  Bacon's  The  Story  of  St.  Paul,  more  recent  than 
any  of  the  above 


132       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

we  may  recall  the  circumstances  under  which  the 
documents  just  named  were  produced. 

Paul  made  three  missionary  journeys.  On  the 
first  of  these,  in  about  the  year  47,  he  set  out  from 
Antioch,  Syria,  in  company  with  Barnabas  and 
John  Mark,  the  latter's  nephew,  for  a  visit  to  Cy- 
prus, the  native  home  of  Barnabas.  After  a  tour 
of  the  island,  in  the  course  of  which  they  met  with 
a  signal  success,  at  Paphos,  in  the  conversion  of 
Sergius  Paulus,  the  proconsul  or  governor  of  Cy- 
prus, they  sailed  thence  to  the  southern  coast  of 
Asia  Minor.  Stopping  at  Perga,  in  Pamphylia, 
they  next  visited  such  places  as  Antioch  in  Pisidia, 
Derbe,  Lystra,  and  Iconium  in  South  Galatia; 
then,  returning  through  Pamphylia  to  the  seaport 
town  of  Attalia,  they  sailed  back  home  to  Anti- 
och in  Syria.  This  first  journey  seems  to  have  oc- 
cupied between  one  and  two  years.19  Quickly  fol- 
lowing it  trouble  arose  in  the  form  of  bitter  oppo- 
sition from  the  Jewish  Christians  in  Jerusalem, 
who  sought  to  undo  Paul's  work  among  the 
churches  which  he  had  just  established.  To  coun- 
teract this  antagonistic  influence  and  to  recover 
his  converts  from  a  reactionary  tendency,  the 
apostle  soon  wrote  his  letter  to  the  Galatians20 

19  Ramsay  thinks  it  "began  in  March,  47,  and  ended  about 
July  or  August,  49." — St.  Paul  the  Traveller  and  Roman  Citixen, 
p.  128. 

20  Authorities  differ  regarding  the  date  and  place  of  this. 
McGiffert  thinks  it  was  written  from  Antioch,  very  shortly  after 
the  return  from  this  first  journey.     See  his  The  Apostolic  Age. 


NEW  VIEW  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT  133 

— that  is,  to  the  churches  that  he  had  so  recently 
founded  in  the  above-named  cities  of  the  southern 
part  of  the  Province  of  Galatia. 

Within  a  few  months  Paul  undertook  his 
second  missionary  journey.  Passing  rapidly 
through  Asia  Minor  to  the  northwest,  he  at  length 
reached  Troas,  whence  he  felt  himself  summoned 
to  go  over  into  Europe ;  for  the  great  longing  of 
his  heart  to  carry  the  gospel  to  the  gentiles  stead- 
ily increased,  and  the  vision  of  the  Graeco- Roman- 
world  won  to  Christ,  and  to  the  worship  of  the 
God  and  Father  whom  Christ  had  revealed,  be- 
came his  growing  inspiration.  So,  crossing  the 
.ZEgean  Sea,  he  began  at  once  to  preach  in  Phi- 
lippi,  Thessalonica,  and  Beroea,  meeting  with 
gratifying  success  along  with  many  difficulties; 
and  soon  he  went  on  southward  to  Athens  and 
Corinth.  While  at  Corinth  he  learned  that  some 
of  his  teachings  at  Thessalonica  had  been  misun- 
derstood by  the  friends  there,  who  were  anxious 
over  certain  matters;  and  to  explain  these  things 
to  them  and  to  counsel  them  in  love,  as  was  his 
wont,  he  wrote  his  First  Letter  to  the  Thessalo- 
nians,  perhaps  in  the  early  summer  of  50.  This 
letter  did  not  fully  accomplish  its  purpose,  and 
was  soon  followed  by  at  least  a  part  of  our  present 

pp.  226  f.  B.  W.  Bacon  assigns  this  letter  to  Corinth,  a  year  or  two 
later.  See  his  Introduction  to  the  New  Testament,  p.  280.  Both 
consider  this  as  Paul's  first  letter.  For  different  opinions,  consult 
the  other  references  given  above.  Ramsay  {op.  cit.  p.  192)  assigns  this 
letter  to  A.  d.  53. 


134      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Second  Letter  to  the  Thessalonians.  If,  as  held 
by  some,  Galatians  was  written  at  this  same  place 
(Corinth)  and  at  about  the  same  time,  or  a  little 
earlier,  its  purpose  was,  as  stated  above,  to  pro- 
test against  the  Judaizing  influence  of  Paul's  ene- 
mies and  against  the  backsliding  of  his  Galatian 
converts. 

These  three  letters,  then,  are  the  earliest 
Christian  writings  that  we  have.  They  were  un- 
doubtedly read  in  the  assemblies  of  the  churches 
to  which  they  were  addressed,  and  probably  more 
than  once.  They  were  cherished  alike  for  the  in- 
struction which  they  contained  and  for  the  lov- 
ing appeals  which  they  made;  and  they  were  all 
the  more  valuable  inasmuch  as  there  were  no 
other  Christian  documents  then  in  circulation. 
The  story  of  the  gospel  had  been  repeated  orally, 
and  was  spreading  far  and  wide ;  but  the  written 
narrative  of  Christ's  life  and  teaching  was  not  yet 
in  existence,  and  our  present  four  gospels  came 
a  generation  later. 

Within  a  year  or  two  Paul  returned  from  Cor- 
inth to  Jerusalem  and  Antioch,  and  then  started 
on  his  third  missionary  journey.  Again  passing 
through  Asia  Minor,  and  preaching  in  the  western 
"Povince  of  Asia,"  he  took  up  his  abode  for  two 
or  three  years  in  Ephesus.  From  this  place  he 
wrote  his  Letters  to  the  Corinthians,  about  53 
or  54;  although  a  portion  of  II  Corinthians  may 
have  been  written  a  little  later,  from  Macedonia. 


NEW  VIEW  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT         135 

Subsequently  Paul  visited  Corinth  a  second  time, 
and  while  there,  perhaps  early  in  55,  wrote  his 
Letter  to  the  Romans,  one  of  the  longest  and 
strongest  of  his  productions.  His  missionary 
tours  were  now  over.  Soon  he  left  Corinth,  and 
shortly  sailed  from  Philippi  for  Jerusalem,  where 
he  was  arrested  and  taken  a  prisoner  to  Csesarea. 

Now  from  this  brief  sketch  we  plainly  see  how 
the  first  Christian  writings  came  into  existence. 
They  sprang  out  of  the  earnest  life-work  of  the 
Apostle  to  the  gentiles,  to  whom  Christendom 
is  immeasurably  indebted;  they  were  issued  as  a 
perfectly  natural  means  of  instruction  and  ex- 
hortation to  meet  the  peculiar  exigencies  of  the 
time;  and  their  great  author  never  dreamed  that 
they  would  circulate  throughout  the  world  two 
thousand  years  later,  and  be  almost  worshiped  by 
the  followers  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  it  is  certain  that 
he  did  not  expect  the  world  to  stand  two  thousand 
years,  or  even  a  hundred  years:  he  expected 
rather  a  speedy  personal  return  of  the  Savior, 
with  a  simultaneous  cataclysm  in  the  realm  of  na- 
ture, accompanied  by  the  resurrection  of  those 
that  had  "fallen  asleep,"  the  "change"  of  them 
that  "remained,"  and  the  miraculous  inaugura- 
tion thus  of  the  kingdom  of  God.21 

3.  The  third  period  of  Paul's  ministry  succeed- 
ing his  final  visit  to  Jerusalem,  and  including  his 
detention  at  Csesarea  and  his  imprisonment  at 

91  See  I  Thess.  iv.  13-18;  I  Cor.  xv.  50-54. 


136       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Rome,  gave  rise  to  a  second  group  of  letters,  call- 
ed "Epistles  of  the  Captivity/ '  from  their  fre- 
quent mention  of  his  "bonds"  and  of  himself  as 
the  "prisoner  of  the  Lord."  These  are  the  short 
letters  known  as  Ephesians,  Philippians,  Colos- 
sians,  and  Philemon.22  Concerning  at  least  two 
of  these,  Ephesians  and  Colossians,  there  has 
been  much  dispute  whether  Paul  was  really  their 
author,  or  to  what  extent  they  emanated  from 
him ;  and  likewise  there  have  been  different  opin- 
ions regarding  the  localities  from  which  and  the 
dates  at  which  the  several  letters  in  the  group 
were  written.23  However  these  open  questions 
may  be  answered,  we  may  see,  if  we  grant  only 
that  the  documents  contain  largely  a  genuine 
Pauline  element,  that,  like  the  former  group,  they 
sprang  out  of  the  great  apostle's  life  of  labor  and 
thought.  They  were  born  in  the  soul  of  a  pro- 
found spiritual  thinker  and  a  devoted  Christian 
toiler.  Behind  them  there  stands  a  living,  ardent 
human  friend  and  counselor;  in  them  there  are 
dominant  certain  central,  sublime  ideas,  held  with 
the  strength  and  joy  with  which  any  thoughtful 
man  grasps  a  grand  and  vital  truth ;  and  through 
them  throbs  the  spirit  of  a  noble  love,  an  unshaken 
faith,  and  a  victorious  hope,  which  only  a  great 

22  It  is  held  by  some  that  the  historical  order  is  probably  Colos- 
sians,   Philemon,    Ephesians,   and  Philippians. 

23  Professor  Bacon,  whose  treatment  commends  itself  for  its 
freshness,  insight,  and  thoroughness,  holds  that  all  four  are  Paul's, 
and  were  written  from  Rome  in  58,  59,  60.  See  Introduction  to 
the  New  Testament,  p.  280, 


NEW  VIEW  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT  137 

and  good  man  could  cherish.  Thus  the  human 
element  in  them  is  perfectly  real  and  perfectly 
natural ;  time  and  circumstance  have  left  their  in- 
delible impress  upon  them;  and  there  is  no  more 
mystery  about  their  origin  than  there  is  about  the 
ultimate  source  of  any  other  form  of  exalted 
thought,  unselfish  love,  and  high  devotion.  One 
of  the  most  inspiring  spectacles  in  this  world  is 
that  of  a  great  soul  absolutely  consecrated  to 
truth,  righteousness,  liberty,  and  love.  Paul  was 
such  a  one ;  and  out  of  his  brave  life-work,  led  and 
blessed  of  God,  came  those  glowing  letters  which 
have  given  spiritual  light  and  warmth  to  all  suc- 
ceeding generations. 

Because  it  is  not  necessary  to  the  main  purpose 
of  this  chapter  to  take  up  all  the  books  of  the 
New  Testament,  the  remaining  epistles,  as  well 
as  Acts  and  Revelation,  are  passed  by,  and  the 
most  important  works  in  the  whole  Bible  will  now 
claim  our  attention.  Yet  the  consideration  of 
them  must  be  brief  and  suggestive,  while  for  a 
more  extended  discussion  of  the  many  points  of 
interest  which  they  present  the  reader  must  look 
to  Introductions,  Lives  of  Christ,  and  kindred 
books. 

n.     THE  GOSPELS 

The  four  gospels  are  said  to  be  "according  to" 
Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John,  respectively. 


138       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

This  phrase  does  not  necessarily  mean  that  four 
persons  bearing  these,  names  actually  wrote  these 
documents  as  they  now  stand,  although  such  has 
been  the  general  belief.  It  has  been  further  sup- 
posed that  the  first  and  last  of  these  writers,  that 
is,  Matthew  and  John,  were  eye-and  ear-witnesses 
of  what  Jesus  did  and  said,  and  made  record  as 
such;  and  that  all  the  evangelists  have  presented 
in  these  four  gospels  a  substantially  harmoni- 
ous and  particularly  trustworthy  account  of  the 
Master's  life  and  work.  In  what  respects  the 
new  or  critical  view  modifies  this  conception  will 
be  indicated  by  a  general,  though  partial,  state- 
ment of  the  situation. 

The  attentive  reader  cannot  fail  to  observe 
that  these  four  writings  are  very  similar,  and  yet 
very  different.  They  all  report  some  of  the  same 
tilings,  sometimes  in  the  same  words,  and  at  other 
times  in  different  words;  and  yet  each  contains 
some  things  that  the  others  omit,  and  omits  some 
that  the  others  contain.  Especially  is  the  Fourth 
Gospel  noticeably  unlike  the  others,  in  its  style,  in 
its  spirit,  and  largely  in  its  subject-matter.  In  its 
literary  form  and  structure  it  seems  more  contin- 
uous than  the  other  three,  as  if  it  were  more  nearly 
the  work  of  a  single  person ;  and  while  it  records 
fewer  outward  events  in  the  life  of  Jesus,  it  gives 
us  at  much  greater  length  certain  of  his  purported 
utterances  in  the  form  of  conversational  dis- 
courses.    Besides,  it  is  introduced  with  a  Logos- 


NEW  VIEW  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT         139 

doctrine  not  found  in  the  other  narratives,  and 
throughout  it  employs  the  phrase  "Son  of  God" 
in  speaking  of  Christ,  while  they  almost  (not 
quite)  invariably  use  "Son  of  Man."  24 

Now  how  are  these  similarities  and  differences 
to  be  explained?25  Modern  scholars  answer  by 
saying  that  the  first  three  gospels  are  a  compila- 
tion— that  is  to  say,  are  composite  in  structure, 
somewhat  like  the  Hexateuch — while  the  Fourth 
Gospel  is  mainly,  if  not  entirely,  the  work  of  a 
single  author;  and,  moreover,  that  the  said  com- 
pilation was  made,  or  begun,  under  the  peculiar 
conditions  of  Palestinian  or  Jewish  Christianity 
(particularly  in  the  case  of  Matthew),  while  the 
other  production  (the  Fourth  Gospel)  originated 
amid  essentially  foreign  and  Hellenic  surround- 
ings, in  Ephesus  or  elsewhere.  The  more  one 
considers  the  facts  and  arguments  adduced  in 
support  of  this  general  position,  the  stronger  it 
appears  to  be.  Let  us  look  at  it  somewhat 
closely. 

24  For  more  explicit  descriptions  of  the  peculiarities  of  this 
gospel,  see  Cone's  Gospel  Criticism  and  Historical  Christianity,  chap, 
vii;  Bennett  and  Adeney's  Biblical  Introduction;  also  Adeney's  How 
to  Read  the  Bible,  p.  105;  and  Bacon's  New  Testament  Introduction. 
The  literature  on  this  special  topic  is  very  extensive.  See  ref- 
erences given   in  these  works. 

25  Professor  Bacon  shows  the  reality  and  proportions  of  these 
similarities  and  differences  thus:  "If  we  represent  by  one  hundred 
the  entire  contents  of  all  four  (gospels),  the  following  table  will 
exhibit  the  relation:  Mark  has  7  peculiarities,  and  93  coincidences; 
Matthew  has  42  peculiarities,  and  58  coincidences;  Luke  has  59  pe- 
culiarities, and  41  coincidences;  John  has  92  peculiarities,  and  8 
coincidences." — New  Test.  Introduction,  p.   176. 


140       THE  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

After  the  death  of  Jesus  his  followers  had  no 
immediate  occasion  for  writing  anything  about 
him.  They  met  often  to  comfort  and  encourage 
one  another,  and  they  preached  to  their  fellow- 
men  the  gospel  which  they  had  learned  from  him 
— telling  the  story  of  his  life,  and  repeating  his 
cherished  sayings.  He  had  spoken,  not  in  the 
Greek  language,  but  in  the  Aramaic;  and  his  ut- 
terances were  undoubtedly  first  written  down  in 
this  native  dialect.  At  the  outset  they  were  re- 
hearsed orally,  as  was  the  custom  among  the  Jews 
in  disseminating  the  instruction  of  teachers.  It 
was  not  until  the  gospel  began  to  spread  abroad 
among  the  gentiles,  through  the  work  of  Paul  and 
others,  that  the  necessity  arose  for  translating  the 
Master's  words  into  Greek.  This  was  doubtless 
a  gradual  process,  which  took  place  variously  in 
different  Christian  centers.26  In  the  very  begin- 
ning— perhaps  for  the  first  twenty  years,  from 
30  to  50  a.  d. — not  very  much  of  the  gospel 
story  and  teaching  was  committed  to  writing. 
But  as  the  Christian  movement  grew,  the  facts 
and  truths  were  needed  for  the  edification  of  con- 
verts, and  the  living  apostles  could  not  be  every- 
where to  be  appealed  to.  Their  personal  testi- 
mony was  the  supreme  authority  while  they  lived. 
By  and  by,  however,  they  began  to  "fall  asleep," 

20  For  a  concise  and  illuminating  account  of  this  process  and 
its  conditions,  see  the  article  "Sermon  on  the  Mount,"  by  Clyde 
W.  Votaw  in  Hastings'  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  Extra  volume. 


NEW  VIEW  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT         141 

the  expected  "second  coming"  was  not  realized, 
and  probably  some  perversions  of  the  Master's  ut- 
terances were  early  current ;  and  these  various  cir- 
cumstances led  his  friends  to  make  some  authentic 
record  concerning  him.  At  any  rate,  it  is  highly 
probable  that  certain  of  his  sayings  were  com- 
mitted to  writing  within  a  generation  after  his 
death,  or  even  a  shorter  time;  and  some  written 
memoranda  of  his  career  began  to  supplement  the 
oral  tradition  reciting  the  story  of  his  life  and 
teaching.  It  is  generally  agreed,  or  at  least  it  is  a 
well-grounded  opinion,  that  two  of  these  primary 
documents  constituted  an  important  contribution 
to  our  first  two  gospels,  namely,  the  Logia  or 
Sayings  or  Words  of  Christ,  written  by  Matthew ; 
and  the  Memorabilia  of  Events  in  the  Life  of 
Jesus,  said  to  have  been  taken  down  from  the 
preaching  of  Peter  by  Mark.  It  is  thought  that 
the  latter  of  these  writings  formed  the  basis  of  our 
"Gospel  according  to  St.  Mark,"  which  was  the 
earliest  of  the  four  canonical  narratives  to  be  com- 
posed ;  and  that  the  Logia,  by  Matthew,  furnished 
the  basis  of  our  first  gospel,  and  was  supple- 
mented by  the  substance  of  Mark's  work.  Fur- 
ther, it  is  thought  that  the  "Gospel  according  to 
Luke"  was  written  with  all  these  various  oral  and 
written  sources  of  information,  with  perhaps  still 
others,  before  its  author.  Finally,  it  is  supposed 
that  all  three  of  these  gospels  passed  through  the 
hands  of  editors  or  redactors  who  gave  the  finish- 


142      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

ing  touches  to  their  composition.27  Their  precise 
dates  cannot  be  determined,  but  the  latest  of  the 
three,  Luke,  is  believed  to  have  been  completed 
not  far  from  90  a.  d.28  But  of  course  it  should  be 
remembered  that  a  specific  date  like  this  indicates 
the  practical  finishing  of  the  work  as  we  now 
have  it,  and  not  the  production  of  the  written 
"sources"  which  entered  into  its  final  composition. 
It  is  altogether  likely  that  some  of  these  "sources" 
originated  as  early  as  62-66  A.  d.  ;  so  that  the 
narrative  sketch  given  in  Mark,  which  is  substan- 
tially incorporated  in  both  Matthew  and  Luke, 
and  also  the  Logia  which  formed  the  basis  of 
Matthew  may  be  held  with  entire  good  reason  to 
have  been  written  not  later  than  the  sixth  decade 
of  the  first  century — that  is,  within  the  period  of 
a  generation  from  the  Master's  death. 

If  the  foregoing  account  is  approximately  cor- 
rect, even  though  simple  and  very  meager,  we  can 

27  For  an  excellent  treatment  of  this  whole  subject,  with  a 
valuable  conspectus  of  present  opinion,  see  Bennett  and  Adeney's 
Biblical  Introduction,  pp.  275-327.  See  also  Cone's  Gospel  Criti- 
cism, and  Bacon's  Introduction  to  the  Neiv  Test.;  Burton,  Short 
Introduction   to   the  Gospels;  Robinson,   The  Study   of  the   Gospels. 

28  The  impossibility  of  exactly  fixing  the  dates,  and  the  conse- 
quent variety  of  judgment  among  critics  may  be  seen  from  the  fol- 
lowing assignments  by  different  scholars,  as  given  by  President 
George  L.  Gary  in  his  volume  on  the  The  Synoptic  Gospels  (Put- 
nams,  1900):  Matthew:  66-70,  70,  70-73.  7°~75>  85.  96,  130-140; 
Mark:  64-67,  65-70,  65-85,  70-80,  76,  100,  120;  Luke:  78-93,  80-95, 
80-105,  95,   no,   120. 

Professor  Bacon,  whose  studies  are  recent  and  thorough,  gives 
the  following  as  his  own  conclusion,  in  a  "Table  of  Approximate 
Dates":  Mark,  Rome,  75-80;  Matthew,  Jerusalem  (?)  80-90;  Luke- 
Acts,  Antioch  (?)   85  95. 


NEW  VIEW  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT         143 

see  that,  in  the  language  of  Professor  George  T. 
Ladd,29  these  gospels  are  "the  result  of  a  previous 
process  of  preaching,  writing,  hearing,  and  re- 
flecting; and  they  are  dependent  upon  each  other, 
and  upon  common  oral  and  written  sources,  to  a 
degree  which  it  is  difficult  to  determine."  And  I 
may  add  that  each  appears  to  be  an  honest  attempt 
to  set  forth  such  views  of  the  life  and  teaching  of 
Christ  as  the  author  believed  to  be  true.  There 
is  no  evidence  of  fraud  or  conspiracy  on  the  part 
of  these  sincere  and  earnest  narrators;  and  the 
very  discrepancies  of  their  respective  works,  as 
well  as  the  different  ways  in  which  they  use  the 
same  materials,  prove  them  to  have  been  actuated 
by  upright  and  loving  motives,  and  so  enable  us 
to  draw  near  to  the  majestic  Figure  whose  dignity 
and  beauty  emerge  from  their  fragmentary  rec- 
ords, even  as  a  photograph  develops  under  the 
liquids,  lights  and  shades  which  the  artist  em- 
ploys. 

The  Fourth  Gospel  stands  by  itself,  and  the 
debate  regarding  its  date  and  authorship  is  not 
yet  closed.  The  traditional  view  has  been  that 
it  was  written  by  John,  one  of  the  twelve  disciples 
of  Jesus,  in  his  advanced  age,  toward  the  close  of 
the  first  century,  probably  in  the  city  of  Ephesus. 
On  the  other  hand  it  has  been  held  to  be  an  alien 
and  late  production — the  work  of  one  not  familiar 
with  Palestine  and  Judaism  to  so  great  an  extent 

*»  What  is  the  Bible t     p.  32*, 


144      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

as  an  intimate  companion  of  Christ  must  have 
been,  and  to  date  from  the  second  half  of  the 
second  century.  Recent  discussion,  however,  has 
compelled  a  retreat  to  at  least  the  early  part  of 
the  second  century,  by  showing  that  this  gospel, 
as  well  as  the  Synoptics,  was  known  to  Tatian,  if 
not  to  his  teacher  Justin  Martyr,  both  of  whom 
were  flourishing  by  the  middle  of  the  second  cen- 
tury. The  late  Professor  Ezra  Abbot,  one  of  the 
ablest  New  Testament  scholars  whom  this  coun- 
try has  ever  produced,  was  a  stout  champion  of 
the  Johannine  authorship  of  this  work ;  and  many 
are  ready  to  claim  that,  since  the  publication  of  his 
monograph  in  1880,  there  is  no  longer  much  ques- 
tion about  the  matter.  But  a  large  number  of 
scarcely  less  able  scholars  continue  to  take  the 
opposite  side,  in  spite  of  his  cogent  argument. 
Manifestly  it  is  a  problem  which  the  unlearned 
cannot  solve.  For  my  own  part  it  is  difficult  to 
believe  that  John,  the  son  of  Zebedee,  could  have 
written  so  profound,  so  philosophical,  so  spiritual 
a  gospel ;  yet  I  can  conceive  that,  residing  a  long 
time  in  Ephesus,  where  the  Logos-doctrine  was 
deeply  rooted  and  vigorous,31  he  might  have  been 
so  influenced  by  this  form  of  teaching  as  to  have 
experienced  a  gradual  and  complete  transforma- 
tion of  his  intellectual  conceptions,  and  might 
have  harmonized  his  Christian  faith  with  his 
Greek  speculation  after  the  manner  of  the  Fourth 

81  See  James  Drummond's  Via,  Veritas,  Vita,  pp.  297  f. 


NEW  VIEW  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT  145 

Gospel.  (I  am  reminded  here  of  a  radical  and 
profound  change  which  Dr.  James  Martineau, 
himself  an  opponent  of  John's  authorship  of  this 
book,  tells  us,  in  the  preface  to  one  of  his  latest 
works,  took  place  in  his  own  mind  when,  toward 
the  middle  of  his  life,  he  went  for  a  time  to  re- 
side and  study  in  Europe.)  31  There  is  nothing 
impossible  in  supposing  that  John  may  have  been 
affected  by  Greek  thought  enough  to  color  his 
whole  Christology.  Besides,  his  personal  experi- 
ence, long  and  deep — in  which  meditation,  mem- 
ory, disillusionment,  and  devout  love  all  had  their 
work — may  have  been  sufficient  to  give  the  writ- 
ing that  highly  subjective,  reflective,  interpreta- 
tive character  which  it  possesses.  Yet  these  con- 
siderations are  not  decisive,  and  the  question  is 
still  an  open  one.  A  view  lately  advocated  with 
ability,  by  Wendt,  Briggs,  and  others,  is  that  the 
gospel  as  we  now  have  it  is  a  composite  work — 
that  is  to  say,  that  the  substance  of  the  teaching 
which  it  contains  is  from  John,  "the  disciple 
whom  Jesus  loved,"  while  the  literary  form  is 
from  another  hand,  which  added  some  materials 
not  derived  from  the  information  furnished  by 
the  aged  apostle.82 

81  See  Types  of  Ethical  Theory,  Vol.  I. 

82  "The  Johannine  problem"  is  perhaps  the  most  mooted  and 
difficult  in  the  entire  domain  of  Higher  Criticism.  The  dicussion 
is  between  masters  on  both  sides.  Recently  two  weighty  contribu- 
tions to  the  conservative  argument  have  been  made  by  Principal 
James  Drummond  in  The  Character  and  Authorship  of  the  Fourth 


146       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Such  is  a  glimpse,  yet  merely  a  glimpse,  of  the 
way  in  which  our  four  gospels  came  into  exist- 
ence— by  a  process  of  accretion  that  was  pecul- 
iarly vital,  personal,  and  complex. 

Gospel  (1903),  and  by  Professor  William  Sanday  in  The  Criticism 
of  the  Fourth  Gospel  (1905).  On  the  other  hand,  Professor  B.  W. 
Bacon  has  presented  a  strong  case  for  a  very  different  view  in  a 
series  of  articles  in  the  Hibbert  Journal  for  April,  1903,  January, 
1904,  and  January,  1905.  A  fair  statement  of  the  two  positions 
may  be  seen  in  the  subjoined  quotations. 

Dr.  Drummond  says  in  his  conclusion:  "We  have  now  gone 
carefully  through  the  arguments  against  the  reputed  authorship  of 
the  Gospel,  and  on  the  whole  have  found  them  wanting.  Several 
appear  to  be  quite  destitute  of  weight;  others  present  some  difficulty; 
one  or  two  occasion  real  perplexity.  But  difficulties  are  not  proofs, 
and  we  have  always  to  consider  whether  greater  difficulty  is  not  in- 
volved  in  rejecting  a  proposition  than  in  accepting  it.  This  seems 
to  me  to  be  the  case  in  the  present  instance.  The  external  evi- 
dence (be  it  said  with  due  respect  for  the  Alogi)  is  all  on  one  side, 
and  for  my  part  I  cannot  easily  repel  its  force.  A  considerable 
mass  of  internal  evidence  is  in  harmony  with  the  external.  A  num- 
ber of  the  difficulties  which  have  been  pressed  against  the  con- 
clusion thus  indicated  melt  away  on  nearer  examination,  and 
those  which  remain  are  not  sufficient  to  weigh  down  the  balance. 
In  literary  questions  we  cannot  look  for  demonstration,  and  where 
opinion  is  so  much  divided  we  must  feel  some  uncertainty  in  our 
conclusions;  but  on  weighing  the  arguments  for  and  against  to  the 
best  of  my  power,  I  must  give  my  own  judgment  in  favor  of  the 
Johannine  authorship." 

Professor  Bacon  says,  in  his  Introduction  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment (1902),  pp.  251  ff. :  "The  Fourth  Gospel  is  the  effort  of  a 
gifted  mind,  schooled  in  Phrygo  Alexandrian  mysticism  and  d:vinely 
exalted  in  the  conscious  apprehension  of  the  mystery  of  the  faith, 
to  ground  the  higher  Christology  of  Paul  in  an  interpretation, 
based  on  partly  independent  sources,  of  the  ministry  and  teaching 
of  Jesus Criticism  ....  tends  today  to  admit,  as  the  his- 
torical element  of  the  Gospel,  trustworthy  data  and  genuine  login, 
resting  on  the  authority  of  the  son  of  Zebedee,  but  is  more  con- 
vinced than  ever  of  the  need  for  discrimination,  recognizing  that  t1  e 
data  have  been  mingled  with  less  trustworthy  material  and  wholly 
recast,  the  logia  expanded  into  dialectic  discourses,  and  the  work 
as  a  whole  adapted  to  the  author's  purpose  of  theological  exposition 
and  interpretation,  in  a  manner  wholly  incompatible  with  the  clear, 
historical  recollection  of  an  eye-witness." 


NEW  VIEW  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT         147 

What  now  shall  we  say  about  the  historical 
value  of  these  precious  books  ?  Are  they  true,  ac- 
curate, precise,  and  reliable  sources  of  informa- 
tion concerning  Jesus  Christ  and  his  followers? 
They  are  sources  of  information,  but  they  are 
not  to  be  regarded  as  exact  histories — indeed,  they 
plainly  show  that  they  were  written  in  any  but  a 
spirit  of  scientific  exactness  or  correctness.  They 
bear  nowhere  the  marks  of  precise  and  infallible 
statement;  they  are  loose,  fragmentary,  compos- 
ite accounts,  honestly  and  lovingly  written,  of 
what  was  currently  known  and  believed  regarding 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  by  the  two  generations  immedi- 
ately succeeding  him;  but  it  does  not  follow  that 
every  item  contained  in  them  was  strictly  true, 
even  though  the  writers  supposed  it  so;  and  it  is 
perfectly  plain  to  me  that  many  wonder-stories 
about  him  must  have  grown  up  and  become  inter- 
twined with  the  narrative  of  real  fact  and  truth, 
which  show  at  once  the  credulity  of  the  age,  the 
profound  impression  of  Jesus'  life  and  character, 
and  the  devotion  and  love  of  the  disciples  who 
cherished  his  precious  name  and  teachings.  Nev- 
ertheless they  tell  us  enough  about  him  to  enable 
us  to  gain  a  clear  and  trustworthy  conception  of 
his  beautiful  life,  his  heavenly  spirit,  and  his  pure, 
simple,  blessed  gospel.  Though  we  cannot  believe 
that  he  actually  said  and  did  everything  attributed 
to  him  in  these  memoirs,  we  can  believe  in  him 
more  strongly  than  ever — in  his  historical  reality, 


148       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

in  his  lofty  thought,  in  his  mighty  power,  in  his 
sweet,  gentle,  unselfish,  holy  character;  and  this, 
after  all,  is  the  essence  and  substance  of  all  real 
and  true  faith  in  Christ.33 

III.     DISTINCT    TYPES    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

In  concluding  this  chapter  some  attention  must 
be  given  to  another  important  aspect  of  the  new 
view  of  the  New  Testament,  consisting  of  the 
distinct  types  of  Christianity  which  it  discovers 
within  its  pages.  For  not  all  the  books  comprised 
in  this  collection  of  sacred  writings  afford  us 
either  the  same  conception  of  Jesus  Christ,  or 
the  same  body  of  doctrines;  and  very  much  in 
all  of  them  is  quite  different  from  the  Master's 
own  simple,  spiritual  teaching.  As  briefly  as  pos- 
sible, and  in  a  general  way  only,  the  broad  char- 
acteristics of  the  several  principal  types  may  be 
here  indicated,  in  their  probable  historical  order. 

i.  The  writings  of  the  apostle  Paul  give  us 
the  earliest  interpretation  of  the  gospel,  dating 
from  the  first  generation  after  the  Master's  death, 
or  from  the  period  47-60  a.  d.  They  shuw  us 
Jesus,  not  only  as  the  Jewish  Messiah,  but  as  the 

88  "In  the  midst  of  all  the  chaotic  elements  which  the  flood 
of  oral  tradition  rolled  along  is  clearly  discernible  an  historical 
grouping  of  salient  facts — the  appearance  of  the  Baptist,  the  Galilean 
ministry  of  Jesus,  the  healings,  the  teachings,  the  travels  with  the 
disciples,  the  gatherings  of  multitudes,  the  conflicts,  Caesarea  Phil- 
ippi,  the  fateful  journey  to  Jerusalem,  Gethsemane,  the  trial  and 
the  tragedy,  the  consternation  of  the  little  flock,  and  the  myster- 
ious birth  of  a  great  hope." — Dr.  Orello  Cone,  Gospel  Criticism  and 
Historical  Christianity  (Putnams,   189 1),  p.  324. 


NEW  VIEW  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT         149 

Christ  for  all  the  world — a  spiritualized  Messiah, 
lifted  out  of  and  above  all  national  or  earthly 
limitations;  who  in  his  death  on  the  cross  some- 
how satisfied  the  claims  of  the  Jewish  law  and  for- 
ever cancelled  all  obligation  thereto  on  the  part 
of  mankind ;  who  therefore  broke  down  all  middle 
walls  of  partition  between  Jews  and  gentiles ;  and 
who  opened  a  new  dispensation  of  heavenly  truth 
and  grace,  spiritual  and  free,  for  the  whole  human 
family.  There  is  thus  in  these  writings  the  first 
distinct  note  of  universality  for  Christianity,  and 
to  their  great  author,  more  than  to  all  the  other 
apostles,  are  we  indebted  for  its  world-wide  mis- 
sion. It  is  impossible  to  state  Paul's  full  thought 
about  Jesus  and  his  work  in  a  few  words.  Let  it 
suffice,  for  the  present  purpose,  merely  to  say 
that  he  conceived  Christ  to  be  the  Head  of  a  new 
spiritual  order  in  the  world,  a  "Second  Adam," 
the  medium  of  God's  gift  of  the  Spirit  to  mankind, 
imparting  eternal  (that  is,  spiritual)  life  to  all 
who  by  faith  embrace  him.  He  is  thus  the  "medi- 
ator between  God  and  man,"  who  must  reign 
until  all  enemies  are  put  under  his  feet,  abolish- 
ing even  death  itself.  As  such  a  mediatorial  re- 
gent, he  is  to  return  to  earth  shortly,  when  a  resur- 
rection of  "the  dead  in  Christ"  shall  take  place,  to- 
gether with  a  transformation  of  the  living  believ- 
ers, each  of  whom  "shall  be  changed"  and  be  given 
"a  spiritual  body"  "like  unto  his  own  glorious 
body;"  and  "God  shall  be  all  in  all." 


150       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Of  the  wonderful  influence  of  this  Pauline 
presentation  of  the  gospel,  not  only  upon  the  early 
Church  but  upon  the  whole  Church  in  all  the  cen- 
turies— making  for  spirituality,  vitality,  liberty, 
evangelistic  zeal,  a  sublime  and  serene  faith,  a 
victorious  courage  and  joy— there  is  no  room  here 
to  speak.  Happy  the  man  who  truly  understands 
Paul!  One  need  not  entirely  think  the  apostle's 
thought  in  order  to  appreciate  the  nobility  of  his 
character  and  the  salutariness  of  his  great  work. 
At  any  rate  it  is  essential  that  one  should  clearly 
perceive  his  distinctive  position  if  he  is  to  know 
the  New  Testament  as  it  really  is. 

2.  Passing  over  some  slight  modifications  of 
the  Pauline  view,  contained  in  such  writings  as 
the  Epistles  to  the  Ephesians  and  Colossians ;  and 
not  stopping  to  try  to  state  the  peculiarities  of  the 
teachings  of  I  Peter,  James,  Jude,  the  Revelation, 
and  II  Peter,  we  may  notice  next,  among  the  prin- 
cipal types  of  Christianity  to  be  distinguished  in 
the  literature  of  the  New  Testament,  that  of  the 
Letter  to  the  Hebrews,  whose  author  is  unknown. 
This  book  gives  us  a  picture  of  Christ  as  a  super- 
human and  pre-existent  being — a  Son  of  God, 
"appointed  heir  of  all  things,"  through  whom  the 
worlds  were  made,  the  brightness  of  the  divine 
glory,  the  express  image  of  the  Divine  Person, 
and  upholding  all  things  by  the  word  of  his 
power ;  but  made  for  a  little  while  lower  than  the 
angels,  thus  condescending  to  be  born  into  our 


NEW  VIEW  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT         151 

human  world,  partaking  of  flesh  and  blood  so  as 
to  identify  himself  with  humanity,  being  tempted 
in  all  points  like  as  we  are,  yet  without  sin,  and 
becoming  perfect  through  suffering;  ordained  te 
be  a  Great  High  Priest,  sacrificing*  his  body,  once 
for  all,  for  the  sins  of  mankind,  and  entering  into 
the  holy  place  in  the  heavens,  where  he  intercedes 
with  God  for  men;  and  who,  by  means  of  this 
whole  experience,  tasted  death  for  every  man, 
destroying  him  that  had  the  power  of  death,  that 
is  the  devil,  and  so  delivering  them  who,  through 
fear  of  death,  were  all  their  lifetime  subject  to 
bondage.  His  chief  function,  thus  begun  on 
earth  and  continued  in  heaven,  is  to  open  a  life 
of  holiness  to  the  children  of  men  through  the 
sufficient  atonement  which  he  makes  for  their 
transgressions,  and  through  the  assurance  which 
he  gives  them  of  a  "rest"  that  they  may  enter 
into  if  they  do  not  "draw  back  unto  perdition." 
This  letter  is  believed  to  date  from  about  75-85 

A.  D. 

3.  In  the  Synoptic  Gospels  we  find  the  next 
leading  interpretation  of  the  life  and  teaching  of 
the  Master,  emboding  a  type  of  Christianity  quite 
distinct  from  those  above  indicated.  These  gos- 
pels, as  we  have  seen,  gradually  took  shape  and 
are  not  to  be  assigned  to  precise  dates.  They 
clearly  reflect,  however,  the  facts  and  views  which 
became  well  established  and  widely  circulated  in 
the    generation    immediately    following    Paul's 


152       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

death — that  is  to  say,  in  the  period  60-90  a.  d.  In 
the  main  the  Synoptics  present  us  with  Jesus  as 
the  true  Jewish  Messiah,  spoken  of  nearly  always 
as  "the  Son  of  Man,"  whose  Hebrew  lineage  is 
traced,  and  who  came  to  "fulfil  the  Law  and  the 
Prophets.,,  This  is  more  especially  the  emphatic 
note  in  Matthew,  which  is  pronouncedly  Jewish  as 
compared  with  Luke.  In  all  three  gospels  the 
crucifixion  appears  to  be  unexpected,  even  by 
j  csus  himself  at  first,  and  unto  the  very  last  by  his 
disciples ;  and  consequently  the  resurrection  came 
to  them  (notwithstanding  his  warnings  and  prom- 
ises) as  a  great  surprise,  marvelously  attesting 
him  as  the  Anointed  One,  indeed.  Thereupon  he 
became  the  glorified  Messiah,  the  Redeemer  of 
Israel,  in  a  grander  sense  than  any  had  ever 
dreamed ;  and  his  speedy  return  "in  the  clouds  of 
heaven  with  power  and  great  glory"  was  thence- 
forth eagerly  awaited.  There  is  little  in  these 
gospels  to  necessitate  any  other  than  a  humani- 
tarian view  of  the  nature  of  Jesus,  although  the 
supernatural  element  pervades  them  in  the  form 
of  God's  miraculous  providence. 

4.  The  Johannine  type  of  Christianity,  ex- 
pressed in  the  Fourth  Gospel  and  the  Epistles  of 
John,  exhibits  Jesus  as  the  pre-existent  "Son  of 
God,"  the  divine  Logos,  descending  from  heaven 
to  earth  to  reveal  the  Supreme  Father.  Being 
"from  above"  while  his  associates  are  "from  be- 
neath," he  moves  among  men  as  a  superhuman 


NEW  VIEW  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT         153 

personality,  having  a  mysterious  power  over 
earthly  conditions.  Yet  his  humanity  is  empha- 
sized in  the  fact  that  "the  Logos  became  flesh  and 
dwelt  among  us;  and  we  beheld  his  glory,  the 
glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,  full 
of  grace  and  truth."  He  came  to  be  "the  light  of 
the  world,"  redeeming  his  followers  from  "dark- 
ness" and  giving  them  "the  light  of  life" — giving 
"eternal  life"  to  all  who  should  believe  on  him. 
He  came  in  love  to  disclose  the  infinite  love  of 
God,  and  to  establish  love  as  the  ruling  force  in 
human  hearts,  overcoming  sin  and  filling  society 
with  the  beauty  and  joy  of  holy  love.  At  last, 
through  his  death  and  resurrection,  he  returned 
to  the  glory  which  he  had  with  the  Father  before 
the  world  was,  and  promised  to  send  the  Com- 
forter to  lead  his  disciples  into  all  truth,  peace, 
and  divine  fellowship.  The  conception  and  treat- 
ment are  exalted,  profound,  and  spiritual  in  the 
highest  degree,  and  the  Fourth  Gospel  has  been 
well  called  "The  Heart  of  Christ."34 

Now  it  is  plain  that  what  we  have  in  these 
several  instances  is,  not  merely  statements  of  the 
facts  in  the  life  and  teaching  of  Jesus,  but  also 
theories  of  his  place  in  the  spiritual  economy  of 
God.  The  respective  writers  not  only  report,  but 
they  also  interpret,  explain,  philosophize,  as  best 
they  can,  for  the  benefit  of  their  readers;  that  is 

■*  The  title  of  a  noble  volume  by  the  late  E.  H.  Sears. 


154       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

to  say,  they  construe  the  wonderful  life-story  with 
all  the  knowledge,  faith,  hope,  and  love  which  they 
possess ;  and  the  very  fact  that  they  do  this,  how- 
ever differently,  attests  the  remarkable  impression 
which  the  character  of  Jesus  made  upon  his  friends. 
It  is  also  plain  that  these  various  theories  can 
not  be  exactly  harmonized,  and  that  we  should 
no  longer  try  to  harmonize  them  under  the  notion 
that  all  parts  of  the  New  Testament  must  be  ex- 
pected to  tell  one  and  the  same  story,  to  teach  one 
and  the  same  doctrine.  Rather  we  must  seek  to 
go  behind  each  writer's  interpretation,  and  look 
at  the  facts  for  ourselves,  and  put  our  own  con- 
struction upon  them  in  the  light  of  the  largest 
knowledge  and  the  most  spiritual  insight  of  our 
(  wn  time.  Then  we  shall  quickly  discover  that, 
through  all  readings  and  misreadings,  the  great 
Master  inevitably  makes  his  own  powerful  im- 
pression upon  us,  and  that,  within  the  drapery 
with  which  human  thought  and  affection  have 
clothed  him,  he  stands  commanding  and  supreme 
in  his  moral  and  religious  genius.  Because  of  the 
grandeur  of  his  personality,  and  because  all  the 
writings  of  the  New  Testament  relate  to  him,  we 
may  say  that  the  several  types  of  Christianity 
distinguished  in  its  pages  do,  after  all,  like  com- 
mingling lights  in  a  sanctuary,  blend  more  or  less 
perfectly  in  their  influence  on  our  minds  and 
hearts  as  they  are  suffused  by  the  radiance  and 
beauty  of  his  own  pure  character  and  spirit. 


NEW  VIEW  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT         155 

Our  little  systems  have  their  day; 

They  have  their  day  and  cease  to  be; 

They  are  but  broken  lights  of  thee, 
And  thou,  O  Lord,  art  more  than  they. 

Note. — Two  references  may  be  given  for  a  more  ex- 
tended study  of  the  subject  considered  in  the  closing 
paragraphs  of  this  chapter;  namely,  Dr.  Orello  Cone, 
The  Gospel  and  Its  Earliest  Interpretations  (Putnams, 
1893);  and  Professor  George  H.  Gilbert,  The  First  In- 
terpreters  of  lesus    (Macmillan,   1901). 

NEW   TESTAMENT    CHRONOLOGY 
Table  of  Approximate  Dates1 

A.  D. 

Galatians,  Corinth Spring  of  50 

I  and  II  Thessalonians    .     .     .    Spring  and  Summer  of  50 

II  Cor.  6: 14 — 7:1  and  I  Cor.,  Ephesus      .     Winter  of  53-54 

II  Cor.  10:1-13:10,  Ephesus Summer  of  54 

Fragments  of  Pastoral  Epistles,  Troas  (  ?)      .  Autumn  of  54 

II  Cor.,  Macedonia Autumn  of  54 

Rom.,  Corinth February,  55 

Rom.  16:1-23,  to  Ephesus,  from  Corinth    .     .    February,  55 

Eph.,  Col.,  and  Phil.,  Rome 58-59 

Phil,  and  II  Tim.  (additions  excepted),  Rome  ...  60 

Hebrews 75-85 

I  Pet.,  Rome 75-85 

James,  Rome  (?) 85-90 

Jude,  Proconsular  Asia  (?) 85-90 

II  Pet 100-150 

Mark,  Rome 75~8o 

Matt.,  Jerusalem  (?) 85-90 

Luke-Acts,  Antioch  (?) 85-90 

Revelation,  Ephesus 95 

I,  II,  and  III  John,  Ephesus 95-100 

John,  Ephesus 100-110 

fFrom  Professor  B.  W.  Bacon's  Introduction  to  the  New  Testament,  p. 
a8o  (copyright,  Macmillan,  1902)-,  by  the  courteous  permission  of  the 
publisher. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  INSPIRATION   OF  THE  BIBLE 

The  facts  and  views  presented  in  the  preceding 
pages  compel  a  restatement  of  doctrine  concerning 
the  inspiration  of  the  Bible.  The  traditional 
thought  on  this  subject  does  not  afford  an  ade- 
quate explanation  of  the  wonderful  variety  of 
phenomena  now  brought  before  us,  just  as  the 
Ptolemaic  astronomy  would  be  too  small  to  fit  the 
enlarged  heavens  observed  by  Kepler,  Newton, 
and  Newcomb.  We  require  a  more  ample  con- 
ception of  the  nature  and  the  method  of  inspira- 
tion than  that  which  has  prevailed  heretofore — 
one  more  comprehensive,  flexible,  natural,  and 
vital,  covering  a  wider  range  of  facts,  and  imply- 
ing deeper  processes  of  the  Divine  Spirit  in  our 
human  world.  In  order  to  attain,  if  possible,  to 
such  a  better  conception,  it  is  desirable  to  recall 
the  customary  ideas,  to  indicate  their  sources,  to 
show  their  insufficiency,  and  then  to  suggest  a 
few  considerations  which  may  form  at  least  the 
outline  of  a  more  satisfactory  view. 

I.  As  was  stated  in  the  second  chapter,  the 
vast  majority  of  Protestant  Christians  until  lately 
have  believed  the  Bible  to  have  been  peculiarly 
and  completely  inspired ;  that  is  to  say,  they  have 
thought  it,  in  a  unique  sense,  the  direct  gift  of 
God  and  absolutely  infallible.  They  have  deemed 
**6 


INSPIRATION  OF  THE  BIBLE  1 57 

it  wholly  free  from  error  and  fault,  whether  of 

scientific  or  historical  fact,  or  of  moral  precept 

and  example ;  they  have  regarded  it  as  "the  Word 

of  God"  throughout,  and  have  held  that  a  denial 

of  any  portion  of  it  was  an  invalidation  of  the 

whole,  while  an  acceptance  of  any  portion  was 

an  acknowledgment  of  its  entire  accuracy  and 

binding  force.     This  notion  was  expressed  by 

Theodore  Parker,  in  his  day,  for  the  purpose  of 

refutation,  as  follows : 

The  Bible  is  a  miraculous  collection  of  miraculous 
books;  every  word  it  contains  was  written  by  a  mirac- 
ulous inspiration  from  God,  which  was  so  full,  complete, 
and  infallible  that  the  authors  delivered  the  truth  and 
nothing  but  the  truth;  that  the  Bible  contains  no  false 
statement  of  doctrine  or  fact,  but  sets  forth  all  religious 
and  moral  truth  which  man  needs,  or  which  it  is  possible 
for  him  to  attain,  and  no  particle  of  error: — that  there- 
fore the  Bible  is  the  only  authoritative  rule  of  faith  and 
practice.  To  doubt  this  is  reckoned  a  dangerous  error, 
if  not  an  unpardonable  sin. 

Of  course,  since  Mr.  Parker's  time,  some  mod- 
ifications of  this  view  have  been  brought  about, 
especially  among  those  familiar  with  the  methods 
and  results  of  modern  biblical  criticism;  but  es- 
sentially it  still  obtains  among  the  masses  in  nearly 
all  sections  of  Evangelical  Protestantism.  It  is 
only  in  recent  years  and  in  limited  circles  that  this 
conception  of  the  Bible  in  general,  and  of  its  in- 
spiration in  particular,  has  begun  to  lose  its  former 
power. 

The  view  is,  indeed,  an  ancient  one,  if  not 


158      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

taken  too  narrowly.  In  its  main  features  it  pre- 
vailed among  the  Jews  of  Christ's  time  and  earlier 
(as  respects  the  Old  Testament) ;  while,  concern- 
ing both  Testaments,  numerous  expressions  occur 
in  the  writings  of  the  Christian  Fathers,  both 
Greek  and  Latin,  which  may  be  held  to  support  it. 
From  Justin  Martyr,  Origen,  Eusebius,  Tertul- 
lian,  Jerome,  Augustine,  and  from  Schoolmen  and 
Reformers,  may  be  cited  passages  setting  forth 
opinions  of  Scripture  so  exalted  as  to  justify  the 
belief,  looking  at  these  alone,  that  they  entertained 
the  current  Protestant  idea  of  the  plenary  inspira- 
tion and  infallibility  of  the  Bible.  Nevertheless, 
a  fair  construction  of  their  various  utterances 
shows  that  they  wrote,  not  in  exact  language,  but 
uncritically  and  even  loosely,  and  merely  recorded 
their  general  impression  of  the  spiritual  power 
and  the  practical  value  of  the  Bible  as  a  whole. 
Certainly  the  exegetical  treatment  accorded  the 
Scriptures  by  St.  Jerome,  for  example,  in  which 
he  speaks  in  quite  disparaging  terms  of  St.  Paul's 
style,  does  not  comport  very  well  with  that  idea  of 
inspiration  which  regards  the  entire  Bible  as 
divinely  given,  pure,  and  inerrant.1  A  similar  re- 
mark is  applicable  to  Luther's  familiar  allusion  to 
the  Epistle  of  James  as  "an  epistle  of  straw,"  and 
to  many  of  his  expositions  of  Scripture,  as  well 
as  to  his  customary  exaltation  of  faith  and  the 
Spirit  above  the  Bible  not  less  than  the  Church. 

1  See  Farrar's  History  of  Interpretation,  p.  230. 


INSPIRATION  OF  THE  BIBLE  159 

Much  the  same  thing  may  be  said  of  the  opinions 
of  Calvin  and  Zwingli,  and  still  more  of  the  lead- 
ers who  breathed  the  freer  air  of  England. 

II.  While  the  generic  idea  of  inspiration  is  an 
ancient  one,  by  no  means  confined  to  the  Israelit- 
ish  people,  and  while  the  remote  sources  of  the 
doctrine  of  biblical  inspiration  just  mentioned  are 
to  be  found  as  far  back  as  the  age  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament prophets ;  2  while,  too,  as  remarked  above, 
the  essence  of  the  doctrine  prevailed  in  the  last 
two  centuries  before  Christ  and  in  the  early  cen- 
turies of  our  era,  yet  the  doctrine  did  not  assume 
its  rigid,  dogmatic  form,  both  extreme  and  im- 
perative, until  after  the  Protestant  Reformation. 
Then,  through  the  exigencies  of  the  situation — 
the  rejection  of  papal  authority,  the  necessity 
thence  arising  of  having  some  other  court  of  final 
appeal,  and  the  lack  of  learning  among  the  lead- 
ers of  public  thought — resort  was  naturally  had 
to  the  Bible,  and  erroneous  ideas  concerning  it 
grew  up  and  became  fixed,  which  is  not  surpris- 
ing in  view  of  the  ignorance  of  the  Scriptures  pre- 
vailing among  the  masses.  Says  the  learned  Rev. 
Dr.  Tholuck,  of  the  German  Lutheran  Church: 

In  this  manner  arose,  amongst  both  Lutheran  and 
Reformed  divines,  not  earlier,  strictly  speaking,  than  the 
seventeenth  century,  those  sentiments  concerning  Holy 
Scripture  which   regarded   it  as  the  infallible  production 

8  An  excellent  discussion  of  the  whole  subject  is  to  be  found 
in  the  Bampton  Lectures  for  1893,  by  Professor  William  Sanday, 
published  in  a  volume  entitled  Inspiration  (Longmans,  Green  &  Co.). 


160      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

of  the  Divine  Spirit,  not  merely  in  its  religious,  but  in  its 
entire  contents;  and  not  merely  in  its  contents,  but  also 
in  its  very  form.  In  both  Protestant  churches  (the 
Lutheran  and  the  Reformed)  it  was  taught  that  the 
writers  of  the  Bible  were  to  be  regarded  as  writing-pens 
wielded  by  the  hand  of  God,  and  amanuenses  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  who  dictated,  whom  God  uses  as  the  flute- 
player  does  his  instrument;  not  only  the  sense,  but  also 
the  words,  and  not  these  merely,  but  even  the  letters, 
and  the  vowel-points,  which  in  Hebrew  are  written  under 
the  consonants — according  to  some,  the  very  punctua- 
tion— proceeded  from  the  Spirit  of  God. 

And  he  concludes  a  careful  historical  review  by- 
saying  further,  that 

the  assumption  of  an  inspiration  extending  to  the  en- 
tire contents,  to  the  subject-matter  and  form  of  the 
sacred  writings,  has  so  little  claim  to  the  honor  of  being 
the  only  orthodox  doctrine,  that  it  has  only  been  the 
opinion  of,  comparatively  speaking,  a  very  small  fraction.8 

To  the  same  effect  writes  Archdeacon  Farrar 
in  his  scholarly  and  very  valuable  History  of  In- 
terpretation : 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  the  doctrine  arose.  Papal  in- 
fallibility had  been  set  aside.  In  the  perplexity  of  opin- 
ions men  yearned  to  substitute  some  objective  authority 
in  the  place  of  it,  and  so  to  acquire,  or  to  imagine  that 
there  could  exist,  respecting  every  conceivable  detail  of 
theological  speculation,  a  certitude  which,  as  regards 
such  details,  is  nothing  but  an  idle  dream.  The  Reformed 
and  Lutheran  Churches  having  gained — often  by  heroic 
struggle  and  through  seas  of  blood — the  undisturbed  pos- 
session, not  only  of  certain  Christian  verities,  but  also 
each   of  its   own   special   theories;    and,   being   compelled 

8  Noyes'  Essays,  p.  66  (American  Unitarian  Association,  i860). 
The  entire  essay  The  Doctrine  of  Inspiration,  by  Professor  F.  A.  D. 
Tholuck,  is  a  valuable  historical  contribution,  as  well  as  an  argu- 
ment for  a  more  liberal  view. 


INSPIRATION  OF  THE  BIBLE  161 

to  maintain  this  heritage  of  opinion  against  Anabaptists, 
against  Socinians,  against  Romanists,  wanted  something 
to  which  they  could  appeal  as  a  decisive  oracle.  They 
made  the  Holy  Scriptures  such  an  oracle,  but  they  made 
the  oracle  answer  them  according  to  their  own  idols. 
They  substituted  for  its  interpretation  their  own  ready- 
made  theology.  They  assumed  that  the  Bible  formed  a 
homogeneous,  self-interpreting,  and  verbally  dictated 
whole,  and  that  the  inferences  drawn  from  it  by  dia- 
lectics and  compacted  into  a  technical  system  were  as 
certain  and  as  sacred  as  itself.  In  this  way  a  difference 
of  exegetical  opinion  became,  not  only  an  intellectual 
error,  but  a  civil  crime.  Step  by  step  we  mark  the  full 
imposition  of  this  dogma.  It  was  not  itself  discussed. 
There  was  no  attempt  to  place  it  on  a  scientific  basis. 
It  was  an  a  priori  assumption  which  was  pushed  into  the 

utmost  extreme  of  unreasonable  fanaticism It  was 

based,  not  on  exact  principles,  but  on  vague  assertions 
which  floated  in  the  air.  The  great  Reformers,  as  we 
have  seen,  never  attempted  to  bind  themselves  by  the 
only  consequences  of  such  a  doctrine.  They  used  cur- 
rent phrases,  but  practically  they  left  themselves  a  wide 
liberty  to  criticise,  not  only  the  separate  utterances  of  in- 
dividual writers,  but  even  the  very  composition  of  the 
canon.  They  preferred  to  be  inconsequent  rather  than 
to  be  fettered,  and  gave  to  Faith  an  authority  co-or- 
dinate with  that  of  Scripture.  But  their  successors  re- 
garded Faith  as  the  exclusive  product  of  Scripture,  and 
dependent  for  its  authority  on  Scripture  only.  They 
turned  the  inspiration-dogma  into  "an  iron  formula,  a 
painful  juridical  fetter  of  conscience  to  be  imposed  on 
Christians  to  the  detriment  of  fresh  religious  life  and  the 
destruction   of  the  just  appreciation   of  the   Bible."  * 

III.  Seeing,  then,  that  this  doctrine  is  not,  in 
the  largest  sense,  historically  orthodox,  even 
though  certain  aspects  of  it  have  always  pre- 

*  See  pp.   371,   37*. 


i62       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

vailed,  a  presentation  of  some  arguments  against 
it  may  be  the  more  boldly  made. 

1.  First  to  be  mentioned  among  these  is  the 

fact  that  there  is  so  little  positive  argument  for  it. 

As  ex-President  John  Bascom  says : 

Its  proof  is  null;  it  is  a  pure  invention  in  the  face 

of  obvious   facts No   doctrine  could  be   more 

in  contradiction  of  the  general  providence  and  govern- 
ment of  God  than  this  of  final,  exact,  sufficient,  verbal 
truth.  None  springs  from  a  more  complete  misunder- 
standing of  rational  life  and  religious  sentiment,  and 
none,  therefore,  could  offer  itself  to  our  faith  burdened 
with    heavier    presumptions    against    it.B 

2.  It  involves  an  undisguised  distrust  of  the 
human  mind  and  a  depreciation  of  the  religious 
instincts  of  the  human  heart.  One  reason  why  it 
is  maintained  is  the  fear  that,  if  it  were  given  up, 
there  would  be  no  end  to  the  skepticism  and  in- 
fidelity ensuing.  It  has  been  supposed  that  the 
whole  superstructure  of  Christianity  might  totter 
if  it  were  ever  admitted  that  there  are  any  serious 
discrepancies,  inaccuracies,  mistakes,  untruths,  or 
immoralities  in  the  Scriptures — that  everything 
must  be  definitely  and  positively  settled,  or  men 
would  not  know  what  to  believe  regarding  Holy 
Writ,  and  would  discard  religion  entirely.  In 
other  words,  if  the  fence  should  be  let  down  at  a 
single  point,  the  sheep  would  immediately  leave 
the  green,  fertile  pastures,  and  rush  out  into  the 
arid  wastes  of  the  desert,  to  be  destroyed  or  to 

*  Philosophy  of  Religion,  p.  272   (Putnam's,   1876). 


INSPIRATION  OF  THE  BIBLE  163 

perish  with  hunger !  This  is  the  reason  of  expedi- 
ency— the  reason  which,  at  different  times,  has 
led  the  Christian  Church  to  oppose  the  doctrine  of 
the  earth's  rotundity,  the  Copernican  system  of 
astronomy,  the  teachings  of  modern  geology,  and 
the  theory  of  evolution ;  it  has  been  imagined  that, 
if  the  customary  view  were  abandoned,  God 
would  be  driven  out  of  human  life,  the  whole  es- 
tablished order  of  things  would  crumble  into  dust, 
and  people  would  run  wild  intellectually  and  re- 
ligiously. As  if  the  Almighty  had  no  more  secure 
tenure  in  this  world  or  in  the  hearts  of  his  chil- 
dren !  It  is  good  to  be  able  to  believe  that  religion 
is  too  vital  and  permanent  a  reality  to  be  so  easily 
overthrown;  and  we  may  well  heed  the  remark 
of  one  of  the  writers  already  quoted,  that  "the 
Christian  who  can  feel  his  faith  certain  and  out 
of  danger  only  in  a  diplomatic  attestation  from 
without,  can  find  peace  only  by  repairing  to  the 
(so-called)  infallible  Roman  pontiff."  6 

3.  Again,  the  inequalities  of  the  Bible  are  in- 
consistent with  the  mechanical  theory  of  inspira- 
tion here  repudiated.  Can  anyone  read  the  gen- 
ealogical lists  of  the  books  of  Numbers,  Chroni- 
cles, Nehemiah,  and  elsewhere  in  the  Bible,  or 
read  many  of  the  ceremonial  laws  recorded  in 
Leviticus,  or  read  the  book  of  Ecclesiastes,  or  the 
Song  of  Songs,  or  the  Revelation,  and  say  that 
they  impress  him  as  being  of  equal  value,  author- 

64Dr.  F.  A.  D.  Tholuck,  Noyes'  Essays,  as  before,  p.  oa. 


164      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

ky,  purity,  beauty,  sublimity,  or  excellence  in  any 
other  respect,  with  the  wise  words  of  Moses,  the 
impassioned  utterances  of  Isaiah,  the  fine,  poetic 
reasoning  of  Job,  the  sweet  and  tender  piety  of 
the  trustful  psalms,  the  eloquent  and  practical  ap- 
peals of  St.  Paul,  the  deep-hearted  meditations 
and  counsels  of  the  loving  John,  or  the  spiritually 
divine,  life-giving  sayings  of  the  Son  of  Man? 
The  truth  is  that  there  is  the  greatest  variety  in 
the  quality  of  the  Sacred  Writings,  not  only  as  to 
their  literary  style,  but  as  to  their  quickening  and 
nourishing  power ;  and  it  can  scarcely  be  doubted 
that  the  inculcation  of  the  doctrine  in  question 
is  largely  responsible  for  the  lack  of  intelligent 
discrimination  regarding  this  variety  in  the  read- 
ing of  the  Scriptures  by  the  common  people. 

4.  Further,  the  undeniable  existence  of  dis- 
agreements, mistakes,  and  errors  in  the  Bible, 
many  of  which  refuse  to  be  reconciled,  would  ap- 
pear to  be  a  conclusive  proof  of  a  larger  human 
factor  in  its  production  than  would  be  compatible 
with  the  theory  of  its  plenary  inspiration  and  in- 
fallibility. The  erroneous  quotations  from  the 
Old  Testament  in  the  New,  which  are  sometimes 
wrongly  credited — as,  for  instance,  Matt,  xxvii. 
9,  where  a  prophecy  that  was  delivered  by  Zech- 
ariah  is  referred  to  Jeremiah;  a  circumstance 
which  Calvin  acknowledged  his  inability  to  ex- 
plain, saying,  "I  confess  I  do  not  know,  nor  am  I 
anxious  about  the  matter;"  which  are  sometimes 


INSPIRATION  OF  THE  BIBLE  165 

materially  altered,  sometimes  taken  from  the  in- 
accurate Septuagint,  and  sometimes  evidently 
made  from  memory  without  respect  to  exactness 
and  precision — these  constitute  one  class  of  cases 
in  point.  Another  class  consists  of  discrepancies 
between  the  historians  of  both  Testaments,  as  be- 
tween the  Kings  and  the  Chronicles,  or  as  between 
the  gospels;  for  example,  the  different  wordings 
of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  in  Matthew  and 
Luke,  the  different  genealogies  of  Jesus  given  in 
these  two  works,  the  different  accounts  of  the 
movements  of  his  parents  after  his  birth,  and  the 
different  statements  about  his  reappearance  after 
his  resurrection,  not  to  mention  the  more  serious 
discrepancies  between  the  Synoptics  and  the 
Fourth  Gospel.  Then  there  is  the  unscientific 
story  of  creation  in  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis, 
which  no  scholar  can  accept  as  exactly  true,  even 
when  applying  poetic  license  to  expand  the  six 
creative  days  into  six  vast  cycles  of  time  (and 
what  right  has  one  to  use  poetic  license  with  the 
Bible,  if  it  is  such  a  book  as  this  theory  pro- 
pounds?) ;  there  are  the  deeds  and  precepts,  the 
examples  and  teachings,  set  forth  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, which  no  true-hearted  man  can  sanction 
— for  instance,  the  merciless  slaughter  of  men, 
women,  and  children,  as  well  as  domestic  animals, 
by  the  Israelites  in  the  conquest  of  Canaan,  or  in 
their  feuds  with  the  Philistines,  of  which  we  read 
in  Joshua,  Judges,  and  Samuel,  and  which  are 


166       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

there  approved;  there  are  also  the  sins  of  David 
and  Solomon,  the  skeptical  expressions  of  the 
book  of  Ecclesiastes,  and  the  vindictive  curses  of 
the  imprecatory  psalms — all  these  facts  demon- 
strate the  fallible,  imperfect,  human  character  of 
many  portions  of  these  writings,  and  render  un- 
tenable the  doctrine  of  inspiration  here  contro- 
verted. These  facts  are  easily  enough  accounted 
for  by  another  view  of  inspiration,  presently  to  be 
stated,  which  makes  room  for  the  great  principle 
of  development  in  the  life  of  the  Hebrew  people, 
rinding  natural  expression  in  the  literature  which 
reflects  the  spiritual  progress  of  the  nation;  but 
the  traditional,  mechanical  theory  of  inspiration, 
recognizing  no  such  principle,  overlooks  all  such 
progress,  and  reduces  the  rich  variety  of  this  lit- 
erature to  a  dead  level  of  sameness. 

5.  Finally,  if  the  Bible  were  miraculously 
written,  that  is,  completely  inspired  of  God  and 
made  infallible,  it  would  be  necessary  that  it 
should  be  miraculously  preserved,  translated,  and 
interpreted,  in  order  to  be  kept  free  from  error 
and  misunderstanding;  and  this  would  involve  an 
endless  succession  of  inspired  human  agents  and 
teachers.  The  gist  of  this  truth  has  always  been 
insisted  on  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and 
recognized  by  not  a  few  other  authorities.  At  any 
rate  it  is  hard  to  see  how  one  who  claims  infalli- 
bility for  the  Bible  can  gainsay  the  like  claim  put 
forth  for  the  great  Church  that  has  so  steadfastly 


INSPIRATION  OF  THE  BIBLE  167 

made  it.  If  one  must  lean  upon  a  staff  in  order  to 
walk,  there  is  small  choice  between  a  crutch  and 
a  crook. 

The  argument  against  this  conception  might 
be  closed  by  showing  how  it  robs  the  Bible  of  its 
true  glory;  how  it  lies  across  the  path  of  Christian 
progress  as  a  serious  obstacle;  and  how  it  hangs 
like  a  leaden  weight  on  the  wings  of  the  free,  spir- 
itual, vital  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  But  there  is 
room  only  for  a  brief  quotation  from  Samuel  Tay- 
lor Coleridge : 

Let  me  once  be  persuaded  that  all  these  heart-awak- 
ening utterances  of  human  hearts — of  men  of  like  facul- 
ties and  passions  with  myself,  mourning,  rejoicing,  suf- 
tering,  triumphing — are  but  as  a  Divina  Commedia  of  a 
superhuman — O,  bear  with  me  if  I  say — Ventriloquist; 
that  the  royal  Harper  to  whom  I  have  so  often  sub- 
mitted myself  as  a  many-stringed  instrument  for  his 
fire-tipped  fingers  to  traverse,  while  every  several  nerve 
of  emotion,  passion,  thought,  that  thinks  the  flesh  and 
blood  of  our  common  humanity  responded  to  the  touch — 
that  the  sweet  Psalmist  of  Israel  was  himself  as  mere 
an  instrument  as  his  harp  an  automaton — poet,  mourner, 
suppliant,  all  is  gone;  all  sympathy  at  least,  and  all  ex- 
ample. I  listen  in  awe  and  fear,  but  likewise  in  per- 
plexity and  confusion  of  spirit.7 

In  conclusion,  the  words  of  Archdeacon  Farrar 
may  be  profitably  heeded : 

Whoever  was  the  first  dogmatist  to  make  the  terms 
"the  Bible"  and  "the  Word  of  God"  synonymous,  ren- 
dered to  the  cause  of  truth  and  of  religion  an  immense 
disservice.  The  phrase  in  that  sense  has  no  shadow  of 
scriptural  authority.     It  occurs  from  three  to  four  hun- 

7  Noyes'  Essays  (i860),  p.  99. 


168       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

dred  times  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  about  a  hundred 
times  in  the  New;  and  in  not  one  of  all  those  instances 

is  it  applied  to  the  Scriptures The  formula  of  the 

Reformation  in  its  best  days,  like  that  of  the  Church 
of  England,  was  not,  "Scripture  is  the  Word  of  God," 
but,  "Scripture  contains  the  Word  of  God."  8 

IV.  Rejecting,  then,  this  theory  of  the  plenary 
inspiration  and  infallibility  of  the  Bible  as  erro- 
neous and  unwarrantable,  and  as  a  burden  upon 
the  spiritual  life  of  the  Christian  Church,  what 
have  we  left  and  what  position  shall  we  take? 
The  answer  is  at  hand,  clear,  positive,  and  cogent. 

Let  us  begin  by  saying  that  the  Bible  is  to  be 
regarded  as  literature  first  of  all ;  for  the  various 
writings  of  which  it  is  composed  are  literary  pro- 
ductions before  they  can  be  anything  else  to  us. 
If  we  ask  what  kind  of  literature,  the  answer  is 
that  it  is  religious  literature,  pervaded  by  a  reli- 
gious spirit,  full  of  religious  ideas,  thoughts,  con- 
victions, and  principles;  regarding  and  treating 
nearly  all  its  subjects  from  a  religious  standpoint ; 
that  is,  as  related  to  the  existence,  providence,  and 
government  of  God.  If  we  ask,  moreover,  how 
this  literature  came  to  be  so  intensely  religious, 
the  answer  is  that  its  authors  were  strongly  reli- 
gious men;  that  is  to  say,  were  possessed,  in- 
fluenced, dominated  by  a  deep  and  powerful  reli- 
gious spirit,  which  made  it  as  natural  for  them  to 
write  in  a  religious  vein  as  it  is  for  a  true  poet  to 
write  poetry  or  a  true  singer  to  make  music.    Still 

8  flistory  of  Interpretation,  p.   369. 


INSPIRATION  OF  THE  BIBLE  169 

further,  if  we  ask  how  those  authors  came  to  be 
so  profoundly  and  keenly  religious,  the  answer 
again  is,  that  the  race  to  which  they  belonged,  that 
is,  the  Hebrew,  a  branch  of  the  Semitic,  was  pre- 
eminently characterized  by  the  depth  and  strength 
of  its  religious  life,  by  its  development  of  an 
earnest  sense  of  a  moral  order  in  the  universe,  so 
that  the  religious  ideas,  convictions,  and  spirit,  as 
well  as  the  ethical  ideals,  cherished  by  the  repre- 
sentative men  in  Israel  were  more  or  less  the  com- 
mon property  or  quality  of  all  the  members  of  the 
nation.  And  now  if  we  ask  how  that  race,  par- 
ticularly the  Israelitish  portion  of  it,  came  to  be 
so  very  religious,  the  answer  may  be  unhesitat- 
ingly given  by  saying  that  God  made  them  reli- 
gious, partly  in  that  general  way  in  which  he  has 
made  all  men  religious  by  nature,  and  partly  in 
that  special  or  peculiar  way  in  which,  through  a 
long  educative  and  disciplinary  providence,  he 
trained  and  fitted  them,  developed  and  quickened 
them,  to  preceive  and  understand  spiritual  truth. 
This  position,  when  clearly  apprehended,  will  be 
seen  to  be  susceptible  of  natural,  easy,  and  satis- 
factory establishment. 

1.  For,  in  the  first  place,  we  cannot  doubt 
that  all  men  are  naturally  religious.  The  univer- 
sality and  the  spontaneity  of  the  religious  senti- 
ment, expressing  itself  in  all  manner  of  temples, 
shrines,  ceremonies  of  worship,  creeds,  doctrines, 
and  devotions,  are  a  sufficient  outward  proof  of 


170      NEW  APPRECITAION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

this ;  and  the  consciousness  of  a  worshipful  frame 
of  mind,  a  native  sense  of  reverence,  a  feeling  of 
dependence  and  awe,  an  upward-looking  and 
yearning  spirit,  is  the  inner  complement  of  this 
evidence  to  attest  the  depth,  strength,  and  natural- 
ness of  the  religious  instinct  in  the  human  soul.9 
Hence  we  may  say  that  the  Israelites,  like  all  other 
men,  were  religious  by  nature,  just  as  surely  as 
they  were  rational  and  affectionate  by  nature. 

2.  We  may  hold  that  the  providence  of  God 
concerned  them,  as  it  concerns  all  men  every- 
where. It  compassed  them  as  a  nation  and  as  in- 
dividuals ;  or,  rather,  the  interests  of  both  were  at 
once  subserved  by  that  perfectly  wise  and  benef- 
icent government  which  was  exercised  over  them 
and  is  exercised  just  as  really  and  plainly  over  us. 
That  government  may  not  have  been  special  and 
particular  in  the  sense  that  it  was  unusual  and 
irregular — certainly  we  are  not  to  think  that  it 
was  intermittent  or  capricious.  We  must  con- 
ceive that  the  ends  which  the  Almighty  contem- 
plates for  men  and  nations  are  sought  and  gained, 
in  the  main  if  not  entirely,  by  the  perfect  working 
of  those  general  and  blessed  laws  which  he  has 
ordained  for  all  his  children,  and  which  operate 
with  impartiality  and  inexorableness  everywhere. 
Yet  we  are  never  to  forget  that  our  God  is  an  im- 
manent God,  indwelling  in  humanity — "one  God 

8  See  Dr.  Daniel  G.  Brinton's  Religions  of  Primitive  Peoples 
(1898),  chap,  i;  also  Selleck's  The  Spiritual  Outlook  (1902),  PP- 
137  ff- 


INSPIRATION  OF  THE  BIBLE  171 

and  Father  of  all,  who  is  above  all,  and  through 
all,  and  in  all."  10  Therefore  we  can  never  limit 
the  power  of  the  Divine  Factor  in  human  life.  Be- 
cause God  is  not  outside  of  the  world  alone,  but 
within  it,  we  may  be  sure  that  he  is  its  animating 
and  guiding  Spirit  far  more  frequently  and  to  a 
vaster  extent  than  we  may  ever  perceive.  For  this 
reason  we  may  often  comfort  ourselves  by  saying 
of  our  own  city  and  country,  as  well  as  of  Jeru- 
salem and  Judea,  "God  is  in  the  midst  of  her :  she 
shall  not  be  moved :  God  shall  help  her,  and  that 
right  early."  "  And  so  we  are  to  believe  that  he 
was  the  ruling  and  directing  Presence  in  the  hearts 
of  the  children  of  Israel  long  ago,  and  slowly 
wrought  out  his  own  great  purposes  in  the  com- 
plex affairs  of  their  national  life.  If  there  is  war- 
rant for  believing  that  in  the  drift,  tendencies, 
events,  and  developments  of  our  time,  here  in 
America,  in  Great  Britain,  in  Germany,  in  Italy, 
in  Russia,  in  the  Far  East,  God  is  the  Supreme 
Providence,  working  out  through  good  and  ill  his 
wise  and  gracious  plans,  whose  remote  and  stu- 
pendous issues  we  can  but  dimly  apprehend ;  there 
is  warrant  for  thinking  likewise  of  ancient  Rome, 
Greece,  and  Israel;  in  each  case,  the  divine  en- 
dowment of  faculty  to  serve  the  divine  purpose, 
being  somewhat  different  from  that  of  others, 
and  in  the  case  of  Israel  being  specially  and  pre- 
eminently religious. 

10  Eph.   iv.   6.  "  Ps.  xlvi.   5. 


172       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

3.  This  conception  grows  upon  us  when  we 
look  more  closely  at  the  history  of  the  nation.  Re- 
member the  humble  condition  from  which  the  peo- 
ple rose — a  rude,  nomadic  life  at  first,  and  then  a 
period  of  slavery  in  Egypt.  Consider  the  char- 
acter of  the  country  in  which  they  settled — Ca- 
naan— with  the  mountains  on  the  north,  the  desert 
on  the  east  and  south,  and  the  Mediterranean  on 
the  west,  shutting  them  in  from  surrounding 
tribes,  and  helping  them  to  develop  a  strongly 
marked  individuality.  Reflect  how,  under  these 
circumstances,  their  peculiar  religious  ideas,  par- 
ticularly their  monotheistic  faith,  gradually  in- 
tensified and  at  length  became  all-dominant.  Bear 
in  mind  the  moral  and  spiritual  influence  of  their 
wisest,  purest  teachers,  appearing  in  every  gener- 
ation to  exalt  their  ideals,  to  reprove  their  way- 
wardness, to  urge  upon  them  the  divine  behests  of 
their  holy  faith.  Estimate  thus  the  place  and  serv- 
ice of  that  unique  and  remarkable  class  of  men, 
the  prophets,  who  labored  to  guide  the  nation  in 
the  ways  of  righteousness,  which  are  the  ways  of 
a  deepening  and  broadening  religiousness.  Then 
measure  the  significance  of  the  nation's  contact 
with  the  great  powers,  Syria,  Egypt,  Assyria, 
Babylonia,  and  Persia;  how  it  tried,  tested,  and 
disciplined  the  proud,  suffering  children  of  Abra- 
ham; how  it  broadened  their  outlook  upon  the 
world;  how  it  strengthened  their  ethical  and  re- 
ligious passion,  when,  in  their  adversity,  Jehovah 


INSPIRATION  OF  THE  BIBLE  173 

was  their  only  Refuge  and  Solace;  how,  too,  it 
both  corrupted  and  enriched  their  traditional 
faith ;  and  how  the  Nation  was  born  a  Church  in 
the  throes  of  these  varied  experiences.  When  all 
these  facts  and  features  are  duly  studied,  we 
clearly  see  that  the  result  which  was  at  last  pro- 
duced was  inevitable — the  development,  out  of 
such  racial  material  of  an  increasingly  distinct 
and  profound  type  of  moral-religious  life.  Fi- 
nally, let  it  be  said  again  that,  supplementing 
these  varied  processes  of  education  and  discipline 
running  through  the  ages,  we  are  to  remember 
the  constant,  in-dwelling  power  of  God — that  God 
himself  touched  the  hearts  of  the  people,  stirred 
within  them,  penetrated  their  consciences, 
prompted  them  to  one  course  of  action  or  another, 
swayed,  guided,  inspired  them,  working  in  them 
to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure.  Surely  all 
this  seems  reasonable  to  be  believed  of  the  im- 
manent and  infinite  Spirit,  and  is  the  very  soul  of 
that  vast  movement  out  of  which  came,  in  the 
course  of  centuries,  the  full-grown  religion  of  the 
Israelitish  people. 

4.  Now,  out  of  the  abundance  of  this  religious 
life,  so  characteristic  of  the  nation,  that  literature, 
those  utterances  and  writings,  of  which  our  Bible 
is  the  garnered  remains,  sprang  forth,  just  as  all 
literature  is  produced,  with  all  its  human  imper- 
fections, limitations,  errors,  but  full  of  the  deep, 
earnest,  holy  thought  and  spirit  which  gave  it  its 


174      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

priceless  value.  And  so  the  Bible  today  is  simply 
the  literary  deposit  of  that  full  tide  of  religious 
life  which  laved  the  shores  of  Israel  two  thousand 
and  more  years  ago — that  life  which  was  fed  and 
led  and  blessed  of  God ;  which  was  developed  un- 
der his  providence  through  many  centuries;  and 
which  gave  birth  at  last  to  the  great  Teacher  for 
whom  the  ages  had  toiled  and  waited,  the  Son  of 
Man,  the  Revealer  of  the  Father,  the  Prince  of 
Peace,  from  whom  the  whole  world  may  receive 
Israel's  best  and  highest  gift,  increased  and  made 
divinely  beautiful  by  his  own  deep,  pure,  unerring 
insight  into  the  things  of  the  spiritual  life. 

This  view  of  inspiration  is  natural,  simple,  ra- 
tional, and  vital;  accounting  for  all  the  errors  in 
the  Bible,  and  for  all  its  glorious  truths;  sparing 
us  the  necessity  of  apologizing  for  anything ;  sav- 
ing us  from  those  violent  distortions  of  language, 
those  far-fetched  explanations,  that  unscientific 
exegesis,  which,  if  not  amounting  to  actual  pre- 
varication, do  at  least  sap  one's  intellectual  integ- 
rity ;  and  giving  to  us  that  freedom  of  contempla- 
tion and  study  in  which  are  life,  strength,  growth, 
and  joy. 

In  conclusion  a  little  space  may  be  taken  for 
pointing  out  some  of  the  specific  benefits  which 
may  be  expected  to  accrue  from  an  adoption  of  the 
foregoing  conception. 

i.  It  will  have  the  effect  to  transfer  the  basis 


INSPIRATION  OF  THE  BIBLE  175 

of  religion  from  the  Scriptures  to  the  human  soul ; 
to  make  men  see  that  religion  is  a  greater  fact  than 
the  Bible;  to  show  them  that  religion  is  not  the 
product  of  Scripture,  but  Scripture  is  a  product  of 
religion ;  to  exhibit  religion  as  a  natural,  deathless 
reality,  as  deep  as  the  human  heart  and  as  eternal 
as  the  grace  of  God ;  to  teach  men  that  the  natural 
is  more  wonderful  than  the  miraculous;  and, 
above  all,  to  bring  God  out  of  the  remote  past, 
into  the  living  present,  and  near  to  the  soul  of  his 
every  child,  opening  the  way  of  spiritual  approach 
and  communion  without  the  intervention  of  a 
sacred  book. 

2.  It  will  take  the  wind  out  of  the  sails  of  that 
arrant  skepticism  which  has  spread  itself  and 
flourished  by  virtue  of  its  assaults  on  the  misun- 
derstood Bible.  The  doctrine  which  this  chapter 
has  antagonized  invites  such  assaults;  and,  now 
that  the  science  of  historical  and  biblical  criticism 
and  the  progress  of  the  physical  sciences  have  put 
into  the  hands  of  its  enemies  so  many  weapons, 
they  are  able  to  use  them  with  very  destructive  ef- 
fect. But  when  a  more  natural  and  rational  con- 
ception shall  be  inculcated,  which  shall  regard  the 
Bible,  not  as  a  single,  homogeneous  work,  not  as 
a  textbook  of  science  or  of  systematic  ethics,  not 
as  claiming  for  itself  any  infallibility;  but  as  a 
mass  of  literature  whose  language  is  fluid,  free, 
various,  like  all  living  language,  not  to  be  inter- 
preted in  a  hard-and-fast  literalism,  but  rather  in 


176      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

accordance  with  a  true  literary  instinct — when 
some  such  position  as  this  shall  be  taken,  it  will 
effectually  spike  all  the  guns  of  that  skepticism 
which  has  flaunted  its  banners  over  its  great  vic- 
tories in  discovering  "the  mistakes  of  Moses!"12 
3.  Another  effect,  scarcely  less  important,  will 
be  to  free  the  Bible  from  that  arbitrary  usage  to 
which,  unfortunately,  it  has  been  too  often  sub- 
ject. Those  familiar  with  the  vagaries  and  eccen- 
tricities of  scriptural  exegesis,  from  the  rise  of 
Rabbinism  among  the  Jews  and  of  Allegorism 
among  the  early  Christians  down  to  the  Millen- 
iaJism  and  the  Christian  Science  of  our  own  time, 
will  see  the  significance  of  this  advantage.13  By 
false  methods  of  interpretation,  or  the  absence  of 
all  method,  the  Bible  has  been  made  to  teach 
almost  every  conceivable  doctrine,  and  to  support 
many  a  terrible  wickedness14 — slavery,  polygamy, 
and  the  subjection  of  woman ;  and  the  tap-root  of 
all  these  erroneous  teachings,  darkening  counsels, 
and  unholy  sanctions  has  been  the  idea  of  the  ple- 
nary inspiration  and  infallibility  of  the  Scriptures. 
When  this  idea  shall  fade  out  of  the  popular  mind, 
being  replaced  by  the  more  valid  conception  here- 

18  The  title  of  one  of  the  late  Colonel  Ingersoll's  popular  works. 
18  Again  let  the  reader  consult  Farrar's  History  of  Interpreta- 
tion, first  and  second  chapters. 

14  "In   religion 
What  damned  error  but  some  sober  brow 
Will  bless  it  and  approve  it  with  a  text, 
Hiding    the    grossness    with    jair    ornament?" 

— Shakespeare. 


INSPIRATION  OF  THE  BIBLE  177 

in  advocated,  some  of  the  perversions  and  absurd- 
ities of  religious  doctrine  will  pass  away  which 
have  claimed,  and  still  claim,  their  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  adherents ;  some  hoary  superstitions  and 
cruelties  which  have  darkened  our  world  will  dis- 
appear; and  opportunity  will  be  afforded  for  the 
upspringing  of  a  fairer,  more  beneficent  type  of 
religion  and  civilization. 

4.  The  remark  just  made  leads  us  a  step  fur- 
ther. Perhaps  the  most  valuable  result  of  all  will 
be  to  place  the  emphasis  in  our  religious  teaching 
and  work,  not  upon  the  letter  which  killeth,  but 
upon  the  spirit  which  giveth  life.  The  great  es- 
sence and  priceless  excellence  of  the  Bible  is 
its  spirituality,  its  intense,  living,  palpitating, 
mighty,  ethical  and  religious  energy.  It  is  this 
that  makes  it  breathe,  and  makes  us  breathe,  if 
we  let  it.  And  surely  it  is  this  vital  and  vitaliz- 
ing spirituality  that  we  need  in  our  religion  to- 
day, to  feed  the  hearts  of  men  and  wake  the 
music  of  a  new,  divine  life  within  them.  "God  is 
Spirit,  and  they  that  worship  him  must  worship 
in  spirit  and  truth."  Our  churches  contain  too 
many  dead,  perfunctory  formalists,  narrow  dog- 
matists, hollow  traditionalists,  dry  rationalists, 
mechanical  revivalists;  all  "having  a  form  of 
godliness,  but  denying  the  power  thereof." 
What  they  all  need,  and  what  alone  can  lift 
them  out  of  the  slough,  is  the  quickening  of  a 
living    spirituality    by    the    Great    Spirit    that 


178       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

speaks  through  the  Bible  and  in  many  other 
ways.  "The  Spirit  itself  beareth  witness  with  our 
spirit  that  we  are  the  children  of  God" —  the  most 
real  and  certain  testimony  we  can  have.  "The 
Spirit  searcheth  all  things,  yea,  the  deep  things 
of  God;"  and  "he  that  is  spiritual  judgeth  all 
things,  yet  he  himself  is  judged  of  no  man." 

Now  the  Lord  is  that  Spirit,  and  "where  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  there  is  liberty."  "Every- 
one that  .is  born  of  the  spirit"  is  like  "the  wind, 
which  bloweth  where  it  listeth,"  that  is  to  say,  is 
not  confined,  subject  to  human  control  or  limita- 
tion, whose  life  is  not  bottled  up  in  a  sacred  book 
any  more  than  in  a  sacred  church,  thence  to  be 
drawn  forth  and  inhaled  upon  the  prescription  of 
some  theological  doctor.  The  man  whose  reli- 
gion is  real  and  true  is  he  whose  soul  is  alive  and 
throbbing  with  God's  own  spirit ;  and  this  kind  of 
religion  is  not  wholly  dependent  upon  any  creed 
or  church  or  set  of  sacred  writings,  although  it 
may  be  vastly  helped  and  nourished  thereby. 

There  have  been  three  great  periods  in  the 
history  of  the  Bible  when  Paul's  assertion  that 
"the  letter  killeth"  has  been  abundantly  verified; 
namely,  that  of  the  strict  constructionists  of  the 
Judaism  of  the  last  few  centuries  before  Christ; 
that  of  the  hair-splitting  Scholastics  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages ;  and  that  of  the  narrow  Protestant  dog- 
matists of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centu- 
ries. Let  us  hope  that  the  time  has  now  come  when 


INSPIRATION  OF  THE  BIBLE  179 

"the  spirit  that  maketh  alive' '  is  rising,  like  a 
mighty  tide,  in  our  churches,  bringing  liberty, 
light,  and  divine  power  upon  the  bosom  of  its 
sparkling  waters,  flowing  in  from  the  boundless 
ocean  of  the  Infinite  Love.  If  such  shall  prove  to 
be  the  case,  we  shall  find  that  the  free,  spiritual 
religion  thus  prevailing  will  both  promote  and  be 
promoted  by  the  vital  conception  of  inspiration 
above  sketched.  Moreover,  we  shall  find  that  this 
type  of  religion  and  this  conception  of  inspiration 
make  room  for  the  progress  of  biblical  scholar- 
ship, and  cannot  be  disturbed  by  the  most  thor- 
ough research  or  discussion.  For  the  only  essen- 
tial question  involved  in  the  whole  problem  of  the 
origin  and  character  of  the  Bible  is  identical  with 
the  one  great,  essential  question  involved  in  the 
life  of  the  world  today,  namely,  the  question  of  an 
in-dwelling  Divine  Power;  and  the  more  traces 
of  the  presence  and  operations  of  this  Power 
which  may  be  discovered  in  any  race  or  age,  the 
broader  and  more  solid  will  be  the  foundation 
upon  which  the  Christian  spiritualist  can  erect  the 
temple  of  his  faith,  hope,  and  love. 


CHAPTER  VH 
THE    DIVINE    REVELATION    IN    THE    BIBLE 

The  new  learning  regarding  the  Bible  calls, 
not  only  for  a  restatement  of  the  doctrine  of  in- 
spiration, but  also  for  a  reconsideration  of  the 
kindred  question  of  revelation.  In  what  sense 
is  it  true  that  "the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments  contain  a  revelation  of  the 
character  of  God,  and  of  the  duty,  interest,  and 
final  destination  of  mankind"  ?  1  If  the  Bible  is 
"the  Word  of  God,"  or  "contains  God's  true 
Word,"  how  does  that  "Word"  express  the  Di- 
vine Mind,  and  how  does  such  an  expression  differ 
from  the  disclosures  afforded  by  "the  Book  of 
Nature"?  This  is  a  question  with  which  any 
valid,  critical  treatment  of  the  Bible  must  deal 
seriously. 

The  answer  hitherto  given  to  this  question  has 
been  definite,  positive,  precise;  but  it  no  longer 
satisfies  because  it  is  now  seen  to  be  too  simple, 
naive,  childlike.  In  ancient  times,  when  the  gods 
were  thought  to  be  more  numerous,  nearer  to  the 
earth,  and  more  human  than  subsequently,  and 
were  supposed  to  participate  in  all  important  mun- 
dane affairs,  it  was  easy  to  believe  that  they  spoke 
directly  with  men.  The  history  of  antiquity  is 
full  of  their  imagined  doings  and  sayings.     The 

1  Winchester    Profession    of    Faith,    adopted    1803. 
180 


DIVINE  REVELATION  IN  THE  BIBLE       181 

primitive  Israelites,  still  polytheistic,  shared  the 
universal  ideas  in  this  respect ;  and  when  they  de- 
veloped at  length  a  pure  monotheism,  they  re- 
tained, if  they  did  not  even  increase,  their  con- 
viction that  Jehovah  their  God  not  only  ruled  "in 
the  armies  of  heaven,  and  among  the  inhabitants 
of  the  earth,"  but  also  communicated  his  messages 
and  mandates  to  whomsoever  he  would.  Know- 
ing nothing  of  secondary  causes,  the  Almighty 
was  the  immediate  cause  of  every  significant  oc- 
currence: it  was  he  that  hardened  Pharaoh's 
heart,  he  that  turned  the  tide  of  battle,  he  that 
raised  up  and  threw  down  potentate  and  priest; 
likewise  it  was  he  who  prompted  and  imparted 
the  utterance  of  lawgiver  and  prophet,  wise 
teacher  and  psalmist.  God,  to  the  Hebrew,  was 
"in  His  world,"  as  well  as  above  it,  not  exactly 
in  the  same  sense,  and  yet  as  really  and  vividly  as 
to  us — perhaps  even  more  so ;  and  "the  Lord  said," 
or  "the  Lord  spake  unto  me,  saying,"  were  ex- 
pressions more  frequent  and  natural  than  they 
can  possibly  be  to  our  modern  thought. 

In  view  of  this  general  attitude  of  mind,  it  is 
easy  to  understand  how  the  writers  and  speakers 
in  the  Old  Testament  era  should  have  believed 
very  sincerely  in  a  divine  inspiration  and  revela- 
tion; and  likewise  how,  in  the  later  centuries  of 
Judaism,  when  their  deliverances  were  gathered 
up  and  canonized,  "the  Scriptures"  should  have 
been  regarded  as  the  direct  gift  of  God,  holy  and 


182       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

flawless.    Speaking  of  the  various  titles  by  which 

these  "Scriptures"  were  designated  at  about  the 

time  of  Christ,  Professor  W.  Sanday  says : 

It  is  common  to  all  these  titles  that  they  indicate  a 
Divine  origin.  And  this  is  a  point  which  may  be  illus- 
trated with  overwhelming  abundance.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  it  was  a  rooted  idea  among  the  Jews  of  the 
first  century,  both  Hellenistic  and  Palestinian,  that  the 
Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament  came  from  God.  Philo 
expresses    this    in    the   most   uncompromising   manner.2 

Professor  Sanday  further  shows  that  Josephus 
and  the  Jewish  doctors  had  precisely  the  same 
view  as  to  the  divine  source  of  these  Scriptures, 
and  that  the  New  Testament  reflects  it  also  in  its 
allusions  to  the  Old  Testament.  And  when,  in 
the  course  of  the  first  four  Christian  centuries, 
the  New  Testament  writings  came  to  be  put  upon 
an  equality  with  the  Old,  it  was  inevitable  that 
the  same  general  conception  of  their  supernatural 
character  should  attach  to  them — indeed,  this  was 
the  very  reason  for  their  canonization  as  "Scrip- 
ture." 

Now  this  ancient  and  traditional  conception, 
inhering  somewhat  in  the  Bible  itself,  and  reach- 
ing us  unquestioned,  in  the  main,  until  the  rise 
of  the  present  critical  era,  has  educated  popular 
Christian  thought  to  consider  both  Testaments 
as  a  divine  revelation  in  much  the  old  primitive 
sense.  Of  course  it  has  been  modified  more  or 
less,  but  substantially  it  still  prevails  among  the 

2  Inspiration,  pp.  73  f. 


DIVINE  REVELATION  IN  THE  BIBLE       183 

Christian   masses,    and   is   fairly   stated   in   this 

brief  passage  from  a  recent  book : 

According  to  it  [popular  theology],  it  would  seem  as 
if  there  existed  before  the  foundation  of  the  world  a 
certain  number  of  divine  truths,  all  absolute,  none  rela- 
tive. A  page  of  these  truths,  so  to  speak,  was  given  to 
Abraham,  another  to  David,  another  to  Hosea,  another 
to  Paul.  The  complete  collection  of  these  revelations 
constitutes  the  Bible.  In  accordance  with  such  a  view, 
revelation  is  always  absolute,  of  equal  value  for  all 
time.8 

Deeming  such  a  conception  mechanical,  and 
not  in  harmony  with  what  we  know  to  be  the 
natural  workings  of  the  human  mind;  deeming 
it  also  inconsistent  with  a  true  view  of  the  Scrip- 
tures as  literature,  because  tending  to  obliterate 
all  traces  of  variety  in  them,  we  must  seek  to 
formulate  a  better  conception  of  revelation,  more 
justly  explaining  the  ways  in  which  the  Bible  may 
be  said  to  disclose  the  Divine  Mind  to  mankind. 

1.  Let  us  start  with  the  fundamental  thought 
that,  if  the  universe  is  really  divine,  its  divineness 
may  be  expected  to  manifest  itself  somehow  to 
spiritual  beings  capable  of  apprehending  divine 
truth.  This  ought  to  be  obvious  without  much 
argument.  If  a  world  is  orderly  and  rational,  its 
order  and  rationality  must  be  discernible  by  deni- 
zens having  a  natural  sense  of  order  and  endowed 
with  reason.  If  the  planets  are  actually  governed 
by  mathematical  laws,  those  laws  must  be  cogniz- 

8  Burton  and  Mathews,  Principles  and  Ideals  for  the  Sunday 
School    (University  of  Chicago   Press),   p.   41. 


184       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

able,  in  part  at  least,  by  beings  possessing  a  math- 
ematical cast  of  mind;  and  the  point  is  that  such 
beings  do  not  read  their  mathematics  into  the 
firmament,  but  rather  merely  discover  the  math- 
ematical principles  already  established  there.  Sir 
Isaac  Newton  did  not  create  gravitation ;  it  was  a 
pre-existent  reality,  and  he  at  length  perceived  it. 
So  we  may  say  of  beauty;  the  artist  does  not  put 
it  into  the  landscape,  but  recognizes  it  when  he 
finds  it  already  there.  So  we  may  say  of  good- 
ness and  love  in  human  life;  wherever  they  really 
exist,  they  manifest  themselves  soon  o'r  late  to 
other  good  and  loving  hearts.  It  all  resolves 
itself  into  a  question  of  reality.  The  primary 
ground  of  any  knowledge  on  the  part  of  man  is 
the  assumption  that  knowledge  is  possible,  that 
is  to  say,  that  the  universe  is  intelligible,  that  real- 
ity can  be  apprehended.  If,  then,  the  universe  is 
divine  as  well  as  intelligible,  that  is,  if  it  is  spirit- 
ual, having  a  spiritual  order  and  spiritual  mean- 
ings, its  spirituality  may  be  expected  to  manifest 
itself,  sometime  and  in  some  degree,  to  spiritual 
beings  inhabiting  it.4 

a)  Man  is  such  a  spiritual  being.  He  thinks, 
feels,  wills,  knows;  conscious  intelligence  is  the 
highest  form  of  knowledge  which  he  experiences ; 
and  consciousness  testifies  daily  to  his  spiritual 
nature,  while  such  testimony  is  corroborated  by 

*  A  friend  adds:  "The  recognition  of  any  quality  implies  the 
community  of  both  recognizer  and  recognized  in  that  quality.  If 
no  divineness  in  man,  he  could  recognize  divineness  nowhere." 


DIVINE  REVELATION  IN  THE  BIBLE       185 

all  the  observations  and  tests  which  he  can  make 
in  the  lives  of  his  fellow-men.  If  he  can  be  sure 
of  anything  in  this  world,  he  is  sure  that  he  is  a 
spiritual  being  by  nature.  This  is  an  ultimate 
postulate  of  thought;  he  can  neither  flout  it  nor 
go  beyond  it. 

b)  As  such  a  spiritual  being,  man  finds  traces, 
hints,  indications  of  an  existing  divineness  in  the 
universe.  He  does  not  make  them  or  read  them 
into  the  universe,  any  more  than  the  sensitive  be- 
holder makes  or  puts  into  the  cathedral  the  solem- 
nity which  so  quickly  impresses  him  as  he  enters 
the  sacred  building.  The  beholder  finds  the  so- 
lemnity because  it  is  both  there  and  in  himself,  and 
because  he  is  therefore  able  to  recognize  it.  So 
man  as  a  spiritual  being  perceives  a  divine  char- 
acter upon  the  face  of  the  universe  because  it  is 
there  and  because  there  is  such  divineness  in  him 
that  he  is  able  to  recognize  it  there.  If  any  given 
person  should  deny  its  existence,  he  would  only 
confess  his  inability  to  preceive  it,  as  a  man  color- 
blind might  deny  the  beauty  of  a  rose. 

c)  Thus  detecting,  here  and  there,  hints  and 
fragments  of  an  existing  divineness,  man  is  for- 
ever trying  to  interpret  them,  trying  to  read  the 
strange  language  (yet  not  wholly  strange)  writ- 
ten all  over  the  earth  and  sky.  He  is  like  Chanv 
pollion,  who  patiently  deciphered  the  trilingual 
inscription  of  the  Rosetta  stone,  in  the  early  part 
of  the  nineteenth  century;  or  like  the  host  of 


i86       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

scholars  who  have  been  translating  the  cuneiform 
writings  on  the  clay  tablets  of  ancient  Assyria  and 
Babylon;  only  that  the  hieroglyphs  in  which  the 
Divine  Mind  has  written  the  story  of  eternal  wis- 
dom, goodness,  and  love  in  the  Book  of  Nature, 
in  human  history,  and  in  the  inner  experience  of 
the  individual  heart  are  a  living  language,  as  fresh 
and  inspiring  today  as  "when  the  morning  stars 
sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted 
for  joy." 

d)  Spelling  out  a  few  words  of  this  divine 
language,  or  a  few  sentences  of  this  divine  story, 
man  becomes  increasingly  convinced  that  there 
are  larger,  deeper,  higher  meanings  yet  to  be  ap- 
prehended than  he  has  ever  dreamed  of;  that  he 
has  scarcely  learned  the  alphabet  of  this  marvelous 
medium  by  which  the  spiritual  element  in  his  own 
soul  may  enter  into  the  spiritual  treasures  of  the 
universe ;  and  that  he  has  only  to  press  on,  in  pa- 
tience and  love,  to  discover  vaster,  more  beautiful, 
more  benevolent  purposes  and  methods  in  the  di- 
vine constitution  and  order  of  the  world  than  eye 
hath  seen,  or  ear  heard,  or  the  heart  of  man  con- 
ceived. And  so,  with  growing  assurance  and  joy, 
he  says  with  Browning  — 

This  world's  no  blot  for  us 
Nor  blank;  it  means   intensely,    and    means    good: 
To  find  its  meaning  is  my  meat  and  drink. 

e)  But  one  more  thought  must  be  borne  in 
mind  in  this  connection,  namely,  that  man  is  lim- 


DIVINE  REVELATION  IN  THE  BIBLE      187 

ited  in  his  discernment  of  the  divine  meaning  of 
the  universe  by  his  own  limited  capacity.  You 
can  get  no  more  out  of  a  foreign  language  than 
you  are  able  to  read ;  you  can  get  no  more  out  of 
an  opera  than  you  can  understand  and  appreciate; 
and  if  in  either  of  these  cases  you  get  nothing, 
the  fault  is  not  in  the  language  or  the  opera,  but  in 
yourself.  How  much  of  man's  thought,  love, 
learning,  plans,  and  purposes  can  be  apprehended 
by  the  domestic  animals?  A  little  bit,  we  are 
sure;  yet  how  very  little!  Going  a  step  higher, 
let  us  consider  how  meagerly  a  child  may  grasp 
its  father's  knowledge,  intentions,  hopes,  or  even 
affections;  or  a  pupil  his  teacher's  learning;  or  a 
half-civilized  negro  the  culture  of  an  Emerson  or 
a  Curtis;  or  a  coarse,  wicked  sensualist  the  ex- 
alted, pure,  unselfish,  spiritual  insight  and  ideal- 
ism of  the  Christian  saint.  In  each  instance  the 
limitation  lies  upon  the  inferior  soul — his  eyes  are 
holden,  that  he  cannot  see.  So  every  man's  ap- 
prehension of  the  divine  significance  and  glory  of 
the  universe  is  inevitably  and  inexorably  limited 
by  the  limitations  of  his  own  spiritual  capacity. 
He  can  have  as  much  sunshine  as  he  can  take 
and  enjoy;  as  much  truth  as  he  can  understand; 
as  much  goodness  and  love  as  he  can  appropriate 
and  appreciate;  as  much  of  the  Divine  Life  as 
his  own  life  can  contain  and  manifest. 

2.  Now  we  are  prepared  to  see  how  God  may 
be  reasonably  supposed  to  be  seeking  to  disclose 


» 38       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

himself  to  his  spiritual  children.  Not  only  are 
they  forever  seeking  to  apprehend  more  and  more 
of  the  divine  meaning  which  flits  before  them  and 
invites  their  recognition ;  but  he  who  put  the 
meaning  there,  and  is  himself  its  Source  and  End 
and  Explanation,  is  likewise  seeking  to  tell  them 
as  much  of  himself  as  they  can  understand.  At 
least  this  is  a  familiar  and  congenial  thought  to 
the  Christian.  If  we  are  warranted  in  conceiv- 
ing of  God  as  "a  Divine  Mind  and  Will  ruling  the 
universe,  and  holding  moral  relations  with  man- 
kind," 5  it  is  easy  to  think  of  him  as  perpetually 
expressing  himself  in  and  through  the  govern- 
ment which  he  thus  maintains,  thereby  putting 
himself  in  the  way  of  being  apprehended  by  those 
of  his  finite  creatures  who  have  acquired  sufficient 
intelligence  to  recognize  some  traces  of  his  in- 
dwelling existence.  If  we  go  a  step  further  and 
characterize  God  as  paternal,  we  must  see  that 
his  love  for  his  children  is  only  another  name  for 
an  infinite  yearning  for  recognition  and  commun- 
ion— a  yearning  that  is  immeasurably  deeper  and 
purer  in  him  than  it  can  be  in  us,  and  that  con- 
stantly broods  over  us  and  solicits  our  answer- 
ing knowledge  and  love.  Even  as  the  parents 
and  teachers  of  Helen  Keller  strove,  with  an  in- 
effable affection  and  patience,  to  make  some  sign 
by  which  she  should  understand  their  love  and 
their  thought,  in  other  words,  sought  earnestly 

5  Dr.  James  Martineau's  expression. 


DIVINE  REVELATION  IN  THE  BIBLE       189 

to  communicate  with  her ;  so  may  we  believe  that 
God — so  must  we  believe,  if  he  is  to  us  the  God 
and  Father  of  Jesus  Christ — is  continually  seek- 
ing to  make  known  his  thought,  goodness,  and 
loving-purposes  to  us,  his  earthly,  spiritual,  shut- 
in  children. 

This  waiting  desire  of  God's  universe  to  reveal 
its  secrets  to  the  human  mind  is  well  expressed  in 
Mr.  Lowell's  lines  — 

We  trace  the  wisdom  to  the  apple's  fall, 

Not   to   the   birth-throes   of   a    mighty   Truth 

Which,   for  long  ages  in  blank  Chaos   dumb, 

Yet  yearned   to   be   incarnate,   and   had   found 

At  last  a  spirit  meet  to  be  the  womb 

From    which    it   might   be   born   to   bless    mankind — 

Not  to  the  soul  of  Newton,  ripe  with  all 

The   hoarded   thoughtfulness   of   earnest   years, 

And  waiting  but  one  ray  of  sunlight  more 

To   blossom   fully.6 

3.  Granting  so  much,  we  have  next  to  note 
how  God  makes  use  of  the  outward  world  to  reveal 
somewhat  of  himself.  On  the  field  of  the  material 
realm,  in  the  midst  of  which  we  dwell  for  a  time, 
and  to  which  we  sustain  relations  of  vital  depend- 
ence, he  displays,  in  infinite  abundance  and  vari- 
ety, evidences  or  expressions  of  his  presence  and 
character,  which  are  to  be  learned  by  us.  Like 
pupils  entering  the  high  school  from  the  lower 
schools,  and  finding  upon  the  walls  of  the  new 
rooms  maps,  charts,  diagrams,  pictures,  and  quo- 
tations from  foreign  languages,  all  of  which  are 

•  A  Glance  Behind  the  Curtain. 


190       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

strange  and  cannot  be  understood  at  first,  but 
whose  meaning  will  become  known  in  the  course 
of  study;  so  we,  pupils  in  the  great  school  which 
is  the  world,  are  surrounded  with  wonderful  sym- 
bols which  convey  some  fragmentary  message  of 
the  Divine  Father's  loving  thought,  or  some  re- 
flection of  his  transcendent  wisdom  and  glory, 
and  these  we  are  slowly  to  learn  to  interpret 
aright.  Doing  so,  we  pass  "through  nature  to 
God"  by  "thinking  God's  thoughts  after  him." 

If  we  ask  zvhat  the  outward  world  reveals  of 
God  or  about  him,  the  answer  may  be  indicated, 
in  part  at  least,  by  these  words,  namely :  "Power," 
"order,"  "life,"  "wisdom,"  "goodness,"  "beauty." 
These  terms  which  the  human  mind  employs  to 
designate  what  it  perceives  in  the  world  are  but 
so  many  names  of  the  varied  manifestations  of 
that  inscrutable  Essence  which  the  scientist  calls 
the  all-pervading  Energy  of  the  universe,  which 
the  mystic  calls  the  immanent  Spirit,  and  which 
the  Bible  calls  the  living  God.  The  name  is  of 
slight  consequence,  the  Reality  is  everything ;  and 
the  Absolute  Reality  can  be,  at  best,  very  imper- 
fectly apprehended  by  us  through  the  veil  of  ma- 
terial phenomena. 

4.  When,  however,  we  press  a  little  more 
closely  and  consider  how  God  makes  use  of  the 
human  realm  to  reveal  himself,  we  see  all  these 
manifestations  taken  up  and  carried  to  a  higher 
stage,  bringing  us  more  nearly  face  to  face  with 


DIVINE  REVELATION  IN  THE  BIBLE       191 

the  Eternal  Father.  For  in  this  realm  we  find  a 
new  series  of  phenomena,  denoted  by  such  words 
as  "intelligence,"  "will,"  "virtue,"  and  "love." 
It  is  only  in  rudimentary  form,  if  at  all,  that  these 
qualities  appear  in  the  lower  realm,  the  realm  of 
nature;  but  here,  in  the  higher  realm,  the  human, 
spiritual  realm,  they  are  so  abundant,  so  distinc- 
tive, and  so  exalted  as  to  be  dominantly  character- 
istic; and  along  the  loftier  ranges  of  the  human 
world,  as  exhibited  in  a  Plato  or  a  St.  Paul  or  a 
Dr.  Martineau,  we  find  ourselves  confronted  by 
facts  and  forces  wholly  transcending  the  utmost 
reaches  of  the  physical  domain.  In  the  presence 
of  such  ideas,  thoughts,  and  garnered  learning, 
such  aspirations,  affections,  and  fine  discernments, 
such  disinterested  benevolence,  such  august  sanc- 
tions, such  holy  passion  as  we  witness  in  the  great 
and  good  who  have  crowned  our  world  with  glory 
and  honor,  we  read  a  new  language  telling  a  new 
story  of  the  Indwelling  Spirit  that  seeks  by  these 
additional  signs  to  communicate  with  our  minds 
and  hearts.  Thus  do  these  spiritual  traits,  appear- 
ing in  human  life,  indicate  the  Greater  than  these 
that  is  their  Source;  and  thus  "the  Spirit  itself 
beareth  witness  with  our  spirit  that  we  are  the 
children  of  God."  7  As  the  products  of  man's 
creative  genius — as  in  the  case  of  the  artist,  the 
poet,  the  dramatist,  the  musician — prove  the  real- 
ity of  his  talent,  and  partly  express  his  ideals  and 

T  Rom.  viH.   16. 


192       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

his  character,  and  yet  do  not  exhaust  his  power, 
but  rather  increase  it;  so  do  these  spiritual  phe- 
nomena of  the  human  world  prove  the  existence  of 
God,  partially  express  his  character  and  his  dis- 
position toward  us,  and  yet  leave  his  resources  of 
wisdom  and  love  unexhausted  and  infinite  in  their 
plenitude. 

5.  Now  are  we  not  ready  to  consider  how  God 
may  employ  races  of  men  to  express  or  reveal 
different  phases  of  his  thought,  or  to  present  dif- 
ferent aspects  of  his  educative,  disciplinary  provi- 
dence ?  As  a  teacher  in  the  school  may  use  a  cer- 
tain class  of  pupils  to  show  what  may  be  accom- 
plished in  the  study  of  language,  and  may  use 
another  class  to  show  what  may  be  accomplished 
in  the  study  of  music,  and  still  another  to  show 
what  may  be  done  in  drawing  and  painting;  so 
the  Great  Teacher,  Almighty  God,  may  endow 
and  inspire  certain  races  of  men  in  such  ways 
as  to  enable  them  to  show  what  may  be  achieved 
along  lines  of  intellectual  and  aesthetic  culture,  or 
along  lines  of  social  organization  and  power,  or 
along  lines  of  moral  and  religious  insight  and  in- 
fluence. And  in  each  of  these  cases  the  results 
wrought  out  may  be  justly  held  to  indicate,  not 
only  what  human  nature  is  capable  of,  but  also 
what  is  in  the  purpose  of  the  Over-ruling  Mind. 
As  the  workmen,  skilled  and  unskilled,  who  are 
employed  in  the  erection  and  adornment  of  a  noble 
building,  like  a  cathedral  or  the  Library  of  Con- 


DIVINE  REVELATION  IN  THE  BIBLE        193 

gress  in  Washington,  show  not  only  what  they 
can  do,  but  reveal  even  more  clearly  the  concep- 
tion and  will  of  the  architect  who  designed  and 
planned  it  all;  so  do  the  various  peoples  of  the 
earth,  in  working  out  through  the  ages  their 
natural  tendencies  and  achievements,  show,  not 
only  their  own  potentialities,  but  even  more 
remarkably  unfold  and  exhibit  the  beneficent 
thought  and  the  stupendous  plan  of  the  Supreme 
Architect  of  the  universe.  Thus  does  human  life, 
on  a  vast  scale,  in  its  slow,  evolutionary  develop- 
ment, reveal  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God; 
and  with  intelligence,  as  well  as  with  reverence 
and  gratitude,  the  devout  heart  may  sing: 

He   rules   the   world   with   truth   and   grace, 

And   makes    the   nations   prove 
The  glories  of  His   righteousness, 

And  wonders   of  His   love. 

It  is  in  the  light  of  this  large  view  of  the  sub- 
ject that  we  are  to  interpret  spiritually  the  mis- 
sion of  Greece,  to  show  the  world  the  excellence 
of  knowledge  and  beauty;  of  Rome,  to  show  the 
excellence  of  social  order;  of  Israel,  to  show  the 
excellence  of  morality  and  religion;  and  of  them 
all  to  "declare  the  glory  of  God"  and  to  work  out 
his  vast  designs  for  the  ultimate  blessing  of  the 
whole  family  of  mankind. 

Considering  the  case  of  Israel  particularly,  we 
see  how  striking  and  significant  are  the  facts. 
Although  we  may  reasonably  hold  that  all  men  are 


194       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

by  nature  moral  and  religious  beings,  it  was  given 
to  the  Hebrew  people  to  exhibit  these  traits  in  an 
exceptional  degree.  With  them  the  ethical  in- 
stinct became  at  length  a  passion  for  righteous- 
ness, and  the  religious  sentiment  became  a  fervent 
spirit  of  holiness,  trust,  and  love  that  survived  all 
"shocks  of  doom.,,  Beyond  any  other  people 
known  to  history,  they  felt  the  presence  of  God 
and  the  moral  character  of  his  government  of  the 
world.  To  say  that  he  impressed  himself  and  his 
justice  and  goodness  upon  them,  more  deeply  than 
upon  others,  is  but  to  claim  that  he  was  active  in 
this  part  of  his  world  in  peculiar  or  special  ways. 
— as,  indeed,  he  is  active  in  other  realms  and  in 
different  individuals  in  yet  other  peculiar  ways. 
Genius  is  wonderfully  diversified;  no  two  poets 
or  musicians  are  exactly  alike;  and  why  should 
any  two  races  be  identical  in  their  apprehension 
and  experience  of  divine  truth.  One  flower  dif- 
fers from  another  flower,  even  as  "one  star  dif- 
fereth  from  another  star  in  glory ;"  but  all  flowers 
and  all  stars  reveal  the  beauty  and  wisdom  which 
the  Creator  has  embodied  in  these  forms  of  ma- 
terial nature.  So  does  the  Hebrew  race,  in  its 
historical  development,  apprehend  and  therefore 
unfold  or  disclose  the  higher  aspects  of  moral  and 
religious  truth,  what  it  means  to  feel  the  power  of 
righteousness  and  the  presence  of  God.  To  that 
race  as  a  whole,  and  to  many  an  individual  mem- 
ber of  it,  the  Great  Spirit,  the  living  God,  seemed 


DIVINE  REVELATION  IN  THE  BIBLE       195 

more  real  and  potent,  more  august  and  holy,  more 
merciful  and  paternal  than  to  any  other  people  in 
all  the  world.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  he 
drew  especially  nigh  to  them,  impressed  himself 
especially  upon  them,  and  so  moved  or  wrought 
within  them  as  to  make  them  singularly  aware  of 
the  divine  and  holy  character  of  the  life  to  which 
they  were  prompted  to  aspire.  "The  spirit  of 
man  is  the  candle  of  the  Lord,"  and  the  Lord 
lights  it!  "There  is  a  spirit  in  man,  and  the  in- 
spiration of  the  Almighty  giveth  him  understand- 
ing"— gives  him  insight,  apprehension,  apprecia- 
tion. How  this  is  done  we  cannot  tell,  any  more 
than  we  can  tell  how  it  is  given  to  the  poet  to  sing 
his  songs,  or  the  philosopher  to  grasp  the  pro- 
foundest  truth,  or  the  mother-heart  to  love  and  to 
know  by  loving  what  is  pure  and  good.  The 
mystery  of  mysteries  is  the  in-dwelling  of  the  di- 
vine in  the  human :  how,  then,  shall  we  attempt  to 
define  it  ?  We  touch  the  border  of  the  infinite  life, 
and  we  understand  and  explain  only  as  we  learn 
by  experience.  But  assuredly  every  heart  that  has 
thus  learned  to  feel  and  know  the  presence  and 
power  of  God,  however  imperfectly,  can  easily  be- 
lieve that  he  may  have  manifested  himself  to  seers 
and  prophets  in  the  olden  time  with  exceptional 
potency  and  fulness,  and  that  he  may  have  so 
wrought  upon  and  within  the  Israelitish  people  as 
to  justify  the  psalmist's  remark,  "He  hath  not 
dealt  so  with  any  nation." 


196       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

It  is  this  providential  dealing  with  the  He- 
brews, as  a  whole,  this  progressive  experience 
which  they  had  in  moral  and  religious  ways,  this 
growing  apprehension  on  their  part  of  the  divine 
meaning  of  conduct,  of  human  existence,  of  the 
worlds  and  the  ages — it  is  this,  taken  largely,  that 
constitutes  God's  revelation  of  himself  to  them; 
and  out  of  all  their  experience,  their  thoughts  and 
feelings,  their  mistakes  and  sins,  they  produced 
that  wonderful  literature  which  expresses  their 
deepest  life,  and  thereby  expresses  whatever  meas- 
ure of  God's  spirit  and  purpose  he  was  able  to  put 
into  them. 

In  what,  then,  does  the  substance  or  essence  of 
the  biblical  revelation  consist?  In  the  words  of 
another,  "is  it  the  history  of  the  cosmos,  the 
origin  of  man,  the  Israelites  in  the  wilderness, 
the  conquests  of  Joshua,  the  levitical  priesthood, 
the  exploits  of  Samson,  the  deeds  of  Saul  ?  Does 
it  forecast  the  future ;  tell  of  a  kingdom  that  shall 
pass  away,  of  a  deliverer  that  shall  come  ?  Does 
it  announce  the  end  of  the  world,  a  final  judgment, 
an  ultimate  salvation  and  reprobation?  Do  we 
read  it  literally  in  the  texts  of  Judges  and  Isaiah 
and  Ezekiel,  in  the  genealogies  of  Matthew  and 
Luke,  in  the  colloquy  of  Mary  and  Elizabeth,  in 
the  rhapsody  of  Zacharias,  in  the  arguments  of 
Paul,  in  the  visions  of  the  Apocalypse  ?"  8  Such 
has  been  the  common  belief.    But  a  better  concep- 

•  A.  W.  Jackson,  James  Martineau,  pp.   259,  260. 


DIVINE  REVELATION  IN  THE  BIBLE       197 

tion  is  that  which  is  at  once  more  simple  and  more 
comprehensive;  namely  that  the  substance  or 
essence  of  the  revelation  lying  back  of  the  Bible 
and  contained  in  it  is  the  self -disclosure  of  God  to 
the  spiritual  consciousness  of  man — the  self-dis- 
closure of  God  in  his  moral  character  and  as  a 
gracious  Providence;  a  disclosure  made  in  a 
marked  degree  to  the  Hebrew  people  because  they 
were  remarkably  qualified  to  receive  it ;  a  disclos- 
ure, nevertheless,  which,  in  some  degree,  is  made 
to  all  his  earthly  children.  As  Dr.  Martineau 
finely  says,  this 

self-disclosure  of  God  to  the  human  spirit  ....  carries 
in  it  the  consciousness  of  a  present  Infinite  and  Eternal, 
behind  and  above  as  well  as  within  all  the  changes  of  the 
finite  world.  It  brings  us  into  contact  with  a  Will  be- 
yond the  visible  order  of  the  universe,  of  a  Law  other 
than  the  experienced  consecution  of  phenomena,  of  a 
Spirit  transcending  all  spirits,  yet  communing  with  them 
in  pleadings  silently  understood.  But  it  recites  no  his- 
tory; it  utters  no  sibylline  oracles;  it  paints  no  ultra- 
mundane scenes;  it  heralds  neither  woes  nor  triumphs  of 
"the  latter  days."  •    . 

If  we  recognize  this  great  central  truth  as  the 
very  heart  of  the  biblical  revelation — God's  im- 
pression of  himself,  in  his  moral  character  and  as 
a  gracious  Providence,  upon  the  Hebrew  people — 
we  immediately  find  room  for  the  principle  of 
development,  and  can  readily  allow  for  all  crudi- 
ties and  errors  in  the  apprehension  of  divine 
truth  on  the  part  of  the  Israelites.     That  is  to 

•  Seat  of  Authority  in  Religion,  p.  311. 


198       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

say,  we  see  that  the  revelation  was  progressive; 
there  was  a  progressive  seeking  after  God  by  the 
most  spiritual  men  of  Israel ;  and  there  was  a  pro- 
gressive intensifying  of  God's  presence  and  power 
among  them,  and  a  progressive  unfolding  of  his 
purposes  regarding  them  and  the  world,  from  age 
to  age.  As  we  trace  this  spiritual  evolution  in 
the  Bible,  we  see  how  the  Hebrew  race  was  led 
gradually  from  lower  to  higher  ideas  and  ideals ; 
how  polytheism  and  anthropomorphism  prevailed 
among  them  in  the  beginning;  how  at  length 
monotheism  triumphed,  and  Jehovah  became 
spiritualized,  and  righteousness  and  mercy  came 
to  be  more  important  than  wars  and  sacrifices. 
So  we  behold,  in  the  long  history  covered  by  the 
Old  Testament,  a  grand  moral  and  religious  de- 
velopment which  becomes  an  example  and  an  in- 
terpretation of  the  religious  evolution  of  the  en- 
tire human  family.  In  the  light  of  it  we  see  that 
what  Israel  learned  of  morality  and  religion,  of 
God  and  his  government,  all  men  everywhere  are 
in  process  of  learning,  more  or  less  thoroughly, 
and  always  will  be  in  some  stage  of  that  process ; 
so  that  the  Bible,  which  grew  out  of  the  ethical- 
religious  experience  of  that  particular  race,  in  its 
particular  historical  setting,  will  always  speak 
with  some  great  measure  of  truth  and  power,  to 
the  hearts  of  all  other  men  and  women  regarding 
divine  things.  Thus  the  God  who  drew  nigh  to 
Israel  draws  nigh  to  us  and  to  all  men  in  the  in- 


DIVINE  REVELATION  IN  THE  BIBLE       199 

telligent,   sympathetic  reading  of  those  ancient 

Scriptures  which  are  the  literary  record  of  his 

providential  dealings  with  that  "peculiar  people ;" 

and   the   words   of    President   Henry   Churchill 

King  are  entirely  justified : 

Here  in  the  Old  Testament  we  come  into  fellowship 
with  the  real  God,  who  is  the  creator  of  the  real  world 
and  acts  in  the  real  course  of  history.  Not  an  imagi- 
nary God,  a  dream  God,  a  God  of  mystic  contemplation 
or  of  metaphysical  speculation,  but  the  real  God  of  real 
life  and  history — Israel  discerned.  This  is  the  glory  of 
these  books,  and  the  secret  of  their  sanity  and  perma- 
nence and  power  as  well.  To  be  quickened  ourselves, 
therefore,  by  the  faith  and  vision  of  God  of  these  old 
prophetic  spirits,  whatever  their  limitations,  and  then  to 
be  able  to  see  for  ourselves  in  this  history  of  Israel  the 
presence   of   God,   by   his    own    revelation   in   us — this   is 

the   supreme  office   of  the   Old  Testament This   is 

the   self-evidence   of   the   Old   Testament— God    speaking 
through  it.10 

It  remains  only  to  remark  that  the  divine  reve- 
lation in  the  Bible  culminates  in  the  character  and 
teaching  of  Jesus  Christ.  What  elsewhere  is  seed 
and  root,  in  him  becomes  flower  and  fruit.  In  him 
are  fulfilled  "the  Law  and  the  Prophets,"  not,  in- 
deed, in  any  literal  sense,  but  most  sublimely  in 
a  vital  and  spiritual  sense.  In  him  were  realized 
the  purest  longings  of  the  best  men  of  his  own 
nation  in  its  pathetic  yet  morally  glorious  history 
of  nearly  two  thousand  years.  At  the  same  time, 
although  "a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews,"  he  was 
singularly  independent  of  race  and  country  and 

10  Reconstruction  in  Theology,  p.   149. 


200      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

age  in  his  thought  and  spirit.    As  Dr.  Henry  Van 

Dyke  has  well  said : 

He  was  not  a  commentator  on  truths  already  re- 
vealed. He  was  a  revealer  of  new  truth.  His  teaching 
was  not  the  exposition;  it  was  the  text.  And  this  higher 
revelation  not  only  fulfilled,  but  also  surpassed,  the  old; 
replacing  the  temporal  by  the  eternal,  the  figurative  by 
the  factual,  the  literal  by  the  spiritual,  the  imperfect  by 
the  perfect.  How  often  Jesus  quoted  from  the  Old  Tes- 
tament in  order  to  show  that  it  was  already  old  and  in- 
sufficient; that  its  forms  of  speech  and  rules  of  conduct 
were  like  the  husk  of  the  seed  which  must  be  shattered 
by  the  emergence  of  the  living  germ!  His  doctrine  was 
in  fact  a  moral  and  intellectual  day-break  for  the  world. 
He  did  far  more  than  supply  a  novel  system  of  conduc- 
tion for  an  ancient  light.  He  sent  forth  from  himself  a 
new  illumination,  transcending  all  that  had  gone  before, 
as  the  sunrise  overfloods  the  pale  glimmering  of  the 
morning  star  set  like  a  beacon  of  promise  upon  the  coast 
of  dawn His  teaching  is  neither  ancient  nor  mod- 
ern, neither  deductive  nor  inductive,  neither  Jewish  nor 
Greek.  It  is  universal,  enduring,  valid  for  all  minds  and 
all  times.  There  are  no  more  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
accepting  it  now  than  there  were  when  it  was  first  de- 
livered. It  fits  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  nineteenth,  as 
closely  as  it  fitted  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  first,  century. 
It  carries  the  same  attractions,  the  same  credentials  in 
the  Western  Hemisphere  as  it  carried  in  the  Eastern. 
It  stands  out  as  clearly  from  all  the  later,  as  it  did  from 
all  the  earlier,  philosophies.  It  finds  the  soul  as  in- 
evitably today  as  it  did  at  first. M 

We  see,  then,  that  the  divine  revelation  impli- 
cated in  the  Bible  consists,  not  in  any  particular 
form  of  words,  howsoever  written  or  by  whom- 
soever uttered,  but  rather  in  the  record  which  it 

11  The  Gospel  for  an  Age  of  Doubt,  pp.   191,  193. 


DIVINE  REVELATION  IN  THE  BIBLE      201 

presents  of  man's — specifically  the  Hebrew  man's 
— spiritual  experience  in  a  growing  apprehension 
of  God's  presence  and  power,  of  his  moral  char- 
acter and  gracious  providence,  culminating  at  last 
in  a  vision  of  his  absolute  paternity,  as  portrayed 
in  the  teaching  of  Jesus  Christ;  all  of  which 
means,  on  the  other  side,  a  constant  seeking  by 
the  Eternal  Spirit  to  break  into  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  his  earthly  children  with  the  glorious 
light  of  his  own  ineffable  truth  and  love,  to  prompt 
and  guide  them,  to  restrain  and  correct  them, 
to  discipline  and  develop  them,  and  so  to  bring 
them  to  know  and  love  and  enjoy  him,  and  then 
to  make  him  known  to  other  and  more  backward 
souls,  among  all  the  nations,  throughout  the  ages, 
and  in  all  the  world!  It  is  thus  the  revelation 
of  God  to  man ;  the  revelation  of  man  to  himself ; 
and  the  revelation  of  the  spiritual  constitution, 
meaning  and  destiny  of  that  cosmic  process  by 
which  our  humanity  has  come  into  existence,  and 
by  which  also  it  will  be  ultimately  "delivered  out 
of  the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious 
liberty  of  the  children  of  God." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  MORAL  AND   RELIGIOUS   AUTHORITY  OF 
THE  BIBLE 

In  what  sense  and  to  what  extent  is  the  Bible 
authoritative  in  matters  of  faith  and  morals? 
This  is  the  most  vital  question  involved  in  these 
chapters.  Indeed  it  is  the  one  essential  question 
lying  at  the  heart  of  all  the  discussions  of  our 
time  concerning  the  Scriptures.  We  may  ascer- 
tain what  the  Bible  is  in  its  external  history  and 
its  inner  nature ;  we  may  give  a  reasonable  account 
of  its  inspiration  and  the  character  of  the  reve- 
lation which  it  affords;  and  we  may  proceed  to 
show  its  practical  uses  and  value:  but  all  this  is 
merely  relative  and  incidental  to  a  true  estimate 
of  its  authority.  What  every  thoughtful  person 
wants  to  know,  and  what  current  study  is  seeking 
to  determine,  is  the  sense  in  which  and  the  extent 
to  which  the  Bible  solves  the  great  problems  of 
religion,  life,  and  destiny ;  how  far  it  tells  us,  and 
how  far  it  is  to  be  trusted  in  telling  us,  what  reli- 
gion really  is,  what  and  whence  life  is,  whether 
and  what  God  is,  whether  there  is  a  future  for  the 
human  soul  and  of  what  kind,  together  with  the 
doctrines  that  must  be  believed  and  the  practices 
that  must  be  observed  to  insure  our  highest  wel- 
fare. We  are  asking — thousands  of  honest  and 
serious  minds  today  are  asking — Does  the  Bible 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  BIBLE  203 

really  solve  these  problems  at  all  ?  If  so,  how  and 
how  far?  And  he  who  can  answer  this  question 
wisely  and  justly  will  render  one  of  the  best  pos- 
sible services  to  his  fellow-men  in  the  present  state 
of  the  world's  thought  and  feeling. 

Now  it  may  seem  presumptuous  for  me  to 
attempt  to  answer  so  great  and  grave  a  question. 
But  each  man's  best  thought  is  his  best  contribu- 
tion to  the  progress  of  the  race ;  and  therefore  he 
should  put  it  forth,  modestly  but  earnestly,  to 
be  confirmed  or  corrected  by  the  inevitable  growth 
of  knowledge.  Nor  can  a  conscientious  religious 
teacher  evade  the  duty  of  serious  thought  upon  so 
sharp  an  issue  as  we  are  here  to  confront.  If  we 
are  to  keep  a  firm  footing  and  a  clear  vision  amid 
the  changing  faiths  of  our  time,  so  that  we  may 
lead  the  perplexed  and  the  skeptical  to  a  new  and 
more  valid  trust  in  the  great  spiritual  verities,  and 
may  be  able  to  appeal  to  the  indifferent  with  an 
effectual  persuasiveness  in  behalf  of  a  noble  reli- 
gion, we  cannot  avoid  the  most  searching  inquiry 
into  the  very  nature  of  the  soul's  best  assurances 
respecting  things  divine.  To  fail  at  this  point 
is  to  fail  everywhere,  soon  or  late.  We  must 
know  what  we  believe  and  why  we  believe,  if  we 
are  to  help  others  to  believe  at  all.  The  impor- 
tance of  the  present  subject  lies  in  the  fact  that  it 
touches  the  deep  foundations  of  our  Christian 
faith,  hope,  and  love. 

Evidently  the  first  thing  to  be  done  is  to  as- 


204      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

certain  the  meaning  of  this  word  authority.  We 
want  to  know  what  we  are  talking  about  when  we 
speak  of  the  Bible  or  of  any  person  as  having 
authority.  Therefore  let  us  ask  what  this  term 
really  denotes. 

Like  most  of  our  important  words,  this  con- 
tains a  variety  of  ideas.  From  among  the  six  dif- 
ferent shades  of  meaning  given  by  the  Century 
Dictionary  I  select,  as  concerning  us,  these  three : 
First,  power  or  admitted  right  to  command  or 
act;  as  the  authority  of  parents  over  their  chil- 
dren, the  authority  of  an  agent  to  act  for  his  prin- 
cipal. Second,  the  power  derived  from  opinion, 
respect,  or  long-established  reputation;  influence 
conveyed  by  character,  office,  station,  mental  su- 
periority, and  the  like;  as  when  we  speak  of  the 
authority  of  a  distinguished  jurist  or  scientist  or 
historian  or  physician,  in  his  special  line  of 
thought  and  work.  Third,  that  to  which  or  one 
to  whom  an  appeal  or  reference  may  be  made  in 
support  of  any  opinion,  action  or  course  of  con- 
duct ;  as  when  we  speak  of  the  testimony  of  a  wit- 
ness or  the  weight  of  that  testimony;  the  credi- 
bility or  reliability  of  an  historian ;  the  importance 
of  the  judgment  of  a  certain  scholar;  the  value  of 
the  decision  of  a  court.  As  examples  illustrative 
of  these  various  significations  we  may  take  such 
familiar  instances  as  these:  A  shareholder  in  a 
stock  company  has  been  authorized,  and  therefore 
has  authority,  to  vote  for  absent  shareholders  in 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  BIBLE  205 

a  business  meeting ;  that  is  to  say,  power,  consist- 
ing of  liberty  and  right,  has  been  given  to  him  for 
this  purpose.  Again,  an  eminent  specialist  in  the 
treatment  of  certain  diseases  is  considered  an 
authority  in  all  such  cases;  that  is,  his  opinions 
carry  so  great  a  weight  as  practically  to  settle  the 
question  for  others.  Once  more,  in  matters  of  his- 
tory we  state  certain  things  on  the  authority  of 
ancient  writers  like  Herodotus  or  Josephus  or  Eu- 
sebius  or  Plutarch;  that  is,  these  writers  are  our 
sources  of  information,  and  we  take  their  word 
with  whatever  degree  of  confidence  we  repose  in 
them,  according  as  that  confidence  has  been  pro- 
duced by  acquaintance  with  their  works  and  tests 
of  their  utterances. 

Now  we  perceive  running  through  all  these 
different  shades  of  meaning  the  one  idea  of  power 
— power  to  rule  or  act,  power  to  command  respect 
and  confidence,  power  to  convince  of  truth;  and 
therefore  I  think  they  all  may  be  gathered  up  into 
one  comprehensive  definition  by  saying  that  the 
word  authority  denotes  power  to  influence  the 
mind,  in  one  way  or  another.  Especially  is  this 
the  case  when  we  speak  of  the  Bible  or  of  any  per- 
sonage in  it  as  having  authority :  we  mean  that  it 
or  he  has  power  to  command  our  assent,  our  ac- 
ceptance, our  belief,  our  compliance.  If  we  say 
that  the  Bible  is  an  authority  in  religion,  we  mean 
that,  in  some  way,  it  has  power  to  form,  sway,  and 
guide  our  religious  thought,  feeling  and  conduct ; 


206       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

originating,  it  may  be,  or  at  any  rate  shaping,  our 
beliefs  respecting  God,  sin,  retribution,  salvation, 
right  living,  and  final  destiny. 

But  what  is  the  precise  nature  of  this  power, 
and  whence  does  it  arise?  Here  we  come  to  the 
parting  of  the  ways,  where  we  shall  find  two  dif- 
ferent conceptions  producing  two  quite  opposite 
attitudes. 

I.  There  is  the  conception  of  authority  in  its 
objective  aspect,  as  mainly  an  outward  affair. 
For  instance,  the  hierarchy  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  claims  for  itself  authority — that  is, 
power;  that  is,  liberty  and  right  and  ability — to 
determine  what  is  true  and  obligatory  in  matters 
of  faith  and  morals;  and  that  authority  is  looked 
upon  and  heeded  by  every  loyal  communicant  in 
the  great  ecclesiastical  household  as  external  in  its 
nature,  having  been  derived  from  the  apostles 
who  received  it  from  Jesus  Christ.  This  is  the 
kind  of  authority  that  is  possessed  by  every  priest, 
bishop,  or  superior  potentate  in  the  Church  of 
Rome,  and  to  some  extent  in  other  churches;  an 
authority  conferred  upon  those  receiving  and  ex- 
ercising it,  and  imposed  upon  those  who  must  obey 
it.  It  is  essentially  the  same  sort  of  authority  as 
that  which  is  possessed  by  the  Czar  of  the  Russias, 
or  by  any  other  political  monarch — the  authority 
of  dictation.  An  example  of  it  in  the  Bible  may  be 
found  in  the  case  of  the  Roman  centurion  who 
said  to  Jesus :  "I  am  a  man  under  authority,  hav- 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  BIBLE  207 

ing  soldiers  under  me ;  and  I  say  to  this  man,  Go, 
and  he  goeth;  and  to  another,  Come,  and  he 
cometh;  and  to  my  servant,  Do  this,  and  he 
doeth  it."  1  This  is  the  kind  of  authority  which  is 
possessed  by  every  officer  in  an  army — the  power 
to  command  and  be  obeyed. 

Now  those  who  ascribe  this  objective  author- 
ity to  the  Bible  necessarily  conceive  it  in  such  an 
outward  fashion,  as  a  power  to  be  imposed  upon 
the  mind  of  its  docile,  unquestioning  recipients. 
They  look  upon  the  Bible  as  a  great  pronuncia- 
mento,  as  a  declaration  and  promulgation  of  the 
thought,  will,  and  purpose  of  the  Almighty,  to  be 
accepted  without  hesitation  and  to  be  obeyed  with 
alacrity.  Accordingly  they  are  prepared  to  be- 
lieve anything  and  everything  that  the  Bible  says, 
because  the  Bible  says  it.  Their  position  is  virtu- 
ally that  of  the  little  boy  who  argues  with  his 
playmates:  "It's  so,  for  ma  says  so;  and  if  ma 
says  so,  it's  so  if  it  ain't  so !"  There  are  thousands 
of  people  who  have  reasoned  in  this  way  regard- 
ing the  Bible,  just  as  there  are  thousands  more 
who  have  reasoned  likewise  regarding  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church :  they  have  practically  said :  "It 
is  so,  for  the  Bible  or  the  Church  says  so;  and  if 
the  Bible  or  the  Church  says  so,  it  is  so,  no  matter 
how  clearly  science  or  experience  may  prove  the 
contrary."  People  have  argued  this  way  about 
geography,  astronomy  and  geology,  about  slavery 

1  Luke  vii.  8. 


208       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

and  wine-drinking,  about  capital  punishment  and 
the  subjection  of  woman,  about  the  existence  of 
the  devil  and  an  everlasting  hell.  Because  they 
have  thought  their  views  on  these  subjects  were 
taught  in  the  Bible,  and  because  they  have  had 
this  conception  of  the  authority  of  the  Bible,  they 
have  believed  in  such  views  and  persecuted  those 
who  did  not.  It  is  this  conception  of  the  author- 
ity of  the  Bible  which  leads  people  to  call  the 
Sacred  Volume  "the  Word  of  God"  "from  back 
to  back"  or  "from  lid  to  lid ;"  and  they  regard  all 
criticism  or  dissecting  of  the  Bible  as  the  lifting 
of  unholy  hands  against  the  oracles  of  the  Most 
High. 

2.  There  is  the  other  conception  of  authority 
in  its  subjective  aspect  as  mainly  derived  from  an 
inner  experience.  For  instance,  you  have  a  friend 
whom  you  revere  and  love;  who  is  so  great  and 
noble,  so  pure  and  true  that  he  instinctively  and 
irresistibly  attracts  and  holds  your  admiration, 
respect,  confidence,  and  affection ;  who  awakens  in 
your  soul  such  a  feeling  of  sympathy,  such  a  har- 
mony of  spirit,  that  all  your  finest  affections  go 
out  to  him,  and  you  honor  him,  trust  him,  love 
him,  and  are  happy  in  his  presence.  He  does  not 
ask  such  rich  spiritual  gifts  from  you,  much  less 
command  them ;  but  he  gets  them  without  asking, 
because  he  wins  and  deserves  them  by  virtue  of 
his  own  inherent  worth.  Therefore  he  has  power 
over  your  soul —  the  very  best  and  highest  kind 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  BIBLE  209 

of  power — not  so  much  by  trying  to  have  it,  by 
exerting  himself,  as  by  simply  being  and  being 
known  to  you.  The  diamond  does  not  command 
our  aesthetic  love  by  saying  anything,  but  by 
simply  being  a  diamond  and  lying  still  before  us 
in  all  its  purity  and  perfection.  The  lily  likewise 
does  not  request  us  to  smile  and  rejoice  when  our 
eyes  fall  upon  its  delicate  structure  and  sweet 
beauty;  but  we  do  this  instinctively  because  we 
scarce  can  help  it,  because  its  own  intrinsic  loveli- 
ness meets  and  wins  our  delighted  admiration. 
So  it  is  with  any  great  literary  production,  any 
true  poem,  any  fine  work  of  art,  any  noble  deed, 
any  lofty  and  lovable  human  character ;  its  own  in- 
trinsic excellence  has  power  to  win  us  to  itself, 
to  awaken  within  us  and  draw  out  from  us  the 
best  thought  and  feeling  of  which  we  are  capable. 
Such  is  always  the  power  of  real  excellence  in  any 
form — real  worth,  real  beauty,  real  goodness, 
real  love;  it  makes  its  own  sure  impression  upon 
the  human  soul ;  and  in  contrast  with  it  how  poor 
and  hollow  are  all  counterfeits,  all  falsehoods,  all 
shams,  all  affectations,  by  whatsoever  artifices 
they  may  be  foisted  upon  us !  Who  does  not  know 
the  difference  between  these  ?  Who  does  not  feel 
himself  capable  of  detecting  that  difference  ?  You 
know,  by  your  own  intuitions,  without  anybody's 
telling  you,  whether  the  love  of  your  affianced  is 
true  love,  whether  your  friend's  professed  friend- 


210      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

ship  is  sincere,  whether  your  minister's  piety  is 
genuine  or  affected. 

Now  this  spiritual  power  over  the  human  soul 
is  the  highest  kind  of  power  and  the  truest  form 
of  authority  in  all  the  world.  Let  us  think  of  the 
father  and  his  child.  That  father  has  a  natural 
and  proper  right  to  command  his  child,  and  the 
physical  ability  to  coerce  him  into  obedience.  But 
suppose  he  command  and  coerce  him  unright- 
eously and  in  anger ;  the  child  may,  indeed,  obey, 
but  will  he  not  obey  under  protest  and  with  an  in- 
ward sense  of  wrong  that  rebukes  the  father,  and 
makes  both  father  and  child  know  that  an  in- 
justice has  been  done  ?  And  is  such  obedience  ever 
worth  one-half  so  much  as  that  which  the  father 
secures  through  right  and  reason  and  patient  kind- 
ness, winning  the  child's  full  respect,  honor,  con- 
fidence, and  love,  and  thus  the  free  self-surrender 
of  his  own  will  in  glad  acquiescence  in  the  father's 
will,  which  the  child  feels  to  be  just  and  holy? 
Alas  that  we  do  not  know  more  of  this  power  of 
righteousness  and  love !  But  we  know  enough  of 
it  to  know  that  it  is  the  highest  and  truest  power 
in  the  world.  The  laws  of  the  land,  with  their 
executive  agencies,  may  compel  me  to  submit  to 
some  inherently  unjust,  iniquitous  regulation,  like 
the  old  fugitive  slave  law,  for  example;  but  such 
power  over  me  can  never  equal  in  worth  or  effi- 
ciency that  of  an  inherently  righteous  law  which 
my  own  conscience  approves.    Therefore  no  law 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  BIBLE  21 1 

can  ever  be  really  strong  that  is  not  grounded  in 
righteousness;  no  government  on  earth  can  be 
permanently  secure  that  is  not  established  in 
justice  and  truth ;  and  those  governments  must  be 
most  stable  and  happy,  in  the  long  run,  which,  like 
our  own,  "derive  their  just  powers  from  the  con- 
sent of  the  governed." 

This  spiritual  power  over  the  human  soul  was 
the  kind  of  authority  which  Jesus  possessed.  It  is 
said  of  him  that  the  people  "were  astonished  at  his 
doctrine;  for  he  taught  them  as  one  having  au- 
thority, and  not  as  the  scribes."  That  is  to  say, 
he  did  not  repeat  to  them,  at  second  hand,  the 
letter  of  the  Jewish  law,  in  a  formal  or  perfunc- 
tory manner ;  but  declared  to  them  the  truth  of  di- 
vine things,  fresh  and  living,  from  out  of  the 
depth  and  purity  of  his  own  spiritual  insight,  and 
with  such  evident  sincerity  and  earnestness  that 
his  utterances  carried  conviction  to  the  hearts  of 
the  people,  and  awoke  within  them  an  approving 
response  which  made  them  feel  like  saying,  if  they 
did  not  actually  say,  "Amen  and  amen!  This  is 
indeed  the  Christ!  This  is  that  Prophet  that 
should  come!  Thou  art  a  Teacher  come  from 
God!" 

And  this  is  precisely  the  kind  of  authority 
which  Jesus  possesses  in  the  world  today — the 
authority  of  convincing  power,  the  power  to  win 
the  assent  of  the  mind,  the  approval  of  the  con- 
science, the  love  of  the  heart,  and  the  sanction 


212       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

of  the  spirit.  No  other  authority  in  all  the  world 
is  comparable  to  it.  It  is  like  the  silent  power  of 
the  sunshine  in  the  material  world,  that  melts  the 
iceberg,  warms  the  earth,  lifts  the  waters  of  ocean, 
lake  and  stream  into  the  air,  calls  the  grasses  and 
flowers  into  life,  and  spreads  beauty  and  fruitful- 
ness  everywhere.  It  is  the  authority  or  power  of 
inherent  spiritual  excellence,  bearing  its  own 
weight,  making  its  own  impress,  winning  its  own 
sweet  way  among  men,  gaining  the  admiration, 
gratitude  and  affection  of  the  soul,  softening  the 
hard  heart,  removing  prejudice,  overcoming 
wrath,  rebuking,  correcting,  purifying,  and  in- 
vigorating the  whole  spirit  and  character.  Where 
else  shall  we  find  such  a  power  ?  No  king,  prince, 
or  potentate,  no  military  officer,  no  ecclesiastical 
dignitary  ever  possessed  any  such  power  except  in 
so  far  as  it  was  really  of  this  kind ;  that  is  to  say, 
no  power  different  from  this  ever  equaled  it  in 
effectiveness.  And  what  authority  do  we  more 
readily  acknowledge?  before  what  law  do  we 
more  reverently  and  gladly  bow  than  before  "the 
law  of  the  spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus"  ?  There 
is  no  sway  on  earth  today  like  the  sway  of  this 
majestic  Prophet  of  Nazareth,  the  principles  and 
spirit  of  whose  teachings  and  character  are  gradu- 
ally achieving  their  victories  over  sordid,  sinful, 
selfish,  afflicted  men  and  women,  making  them  to 
aspire,  to  be  generous  and  pure,  to  hope  and  love, 
to  be  patient,  gentle,  and  strong.  And  yet  all  this 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  BIBLE  213 

sway  is  only  the  influence  of  intrinsic  spiritual  ex- 
cellence, embodied  in  the  Son  of  Man  and  uttered 
in  his  spoken  gospel.  That  Son  of  Man  and  that 
gospel  are  authoritative,  that  is,  are  of  binding 
force,  to  you  and  me  simply  and  only  by  virtue 
of  their  convincing  power  over  our  souls.  If  they 
have  no  such  convincing  power,  they  are  not  au- 
thoritative ;  but  if  they  have,  then  we  do  actually 
acknowledge  their  authority,  and  in  consistency 
ought  to  comply  with  it  in  all  our  conduct. 

Now,  in  so  far  as  the  writings  of  the  Bible 
possess  any  authority  at  all,  it  is  of  this  spiritual 
kind.  Theirs  is  not  the  authority  of  dictation,  but 
the  authority  of  conviction.  Their  power  over  the 
human  soul  is  no  less  and  no  more  than  their 
power  to  win  the  assent  of  the  mind,  the  approval 
of  the  conscience,  the  love  of  the  heart,  and 
the  sanction  of  the  spirit.  And  they  do  this 
through  no  factitious  means.  They  have  this 
power,  not  because  they  are  writings  of  the  Bible, 
but  because  they  are  writings  of  real  and  intrinsic 
worth — because  they  contain  so  large  an  element 
of  truth,  and  breathe  so  potently  the  spirit  of 
reverence,  righteousness,  trust,  mercy,  and  love. 
Containing  this  truth  and  breathing  this  spirit, 
they  help  us  to  a  clearer  apprehension  of  this 
truth  and  a  more  complete  realization  of  this 
spirit.  In  producing  such  an  effect  upon  us  they 
have  to  do  it,  and  only  so  can  do  it,  in  the  face 
of  ignorance,  doubts,  questionings,  misgivings, 


214      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

moral  delinquencies,  and  spiritual  deficiencies  on 
our  part.  They  have  to  take  us  as  they  find  us,  as 
we  are,  and  manifest  their  excellence  to  us,  con- 
vince us  of  their  truth,  and  impress  us  with  what- 
ever spirit  of  goodness  they  possess.  If  they  can 
not  do  this,  they  can  not  have  any  authority  for 
us.  If  the  story  of  creation,  in  the  first  chapters 
of  Genesis,  cannot  convince  me  of  its  truthful- 
ness, cannot  win  the  assent  of  my  mind,  it  can 
by  no  possibility  have  any  authority  for  me;  I 
reject  it,  I  cannot  honestly  accept  it:  how,  then, 
can  it  be  authoritative  to  me  ?  If  this  sentence  in 
Ps.  cxxxix:  "Do  not  I  hate  them,  O  Lord,  that 
hate  thee  ? — I  hate  them  with  perfect  hatred,"  can 
not  win  the  approval  of  my  conscience  or  the 
sanction  of  my  spirit,  it  can  not  have  any  author- 
ity for  me,  and  could  not  if  it  were  written  in  a 
hundred  Bibles.  If  Paul  teaches  that  woman 
should  be  in  subjection  to  man,  and  should  not 
speak  in  meeting,  and  should  not  even  dress  her 
hair  in  becoming  fashion;  and  if  I  do  not  agree 
with  Paul,  but  believe  in  the  equality  of  the  sexes, 
and  accord  the  same  liberty  to  others  that  I  claim 
for  myself,  then  Paul's  teachings  can  have  no  au- 
thority on  that  subject  for  me,  however  much  I 
may  like  and  endorse  his  utterances  on  other  sub- 
jects. A  similar  remark  is  applicable  to  the  teach- 
ings of  St.  Paul  and  the  apostles  generally  re- 
garding the  second  coming  of  Christ  and  the  end 
of  the  world;  if  it  is  clear  to  me  that  they  were 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  BIBLE  215 

mistaken  in  their  belief  respecting  this  matter, 
their  words  cannot  be  authoritative  doctrine  for 
me  to  accept  and  inculcate  now.  If  one  of  the 
gospel  narratives  says  that  Jesus  raised  Lazarus 
from  the  dead,  and  its  testimony  is  not  to  me  con- 
clusive, it  cannot  have  authority  for  me  in  this 
particular,  for  it  cannot  win  the  honest  assent 
of  my  mind — and  such  assent  must  be  honest,  or 
it  is  really  no  assent  at  all. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  many  of  the  historical 
statements  of  the  gospels  appear  to  me  to  be  cred- 
ible, and  by  all  the  tests  I  can  apply  or  scholars 
have  employed,  are  not  invalidated,  then  they  have 
authority  for  me ;  for  I  accept  them  with  good  rea- 
son ;  and  I  cannot  accept  anything  without  reason 
and  at  the  same  time  preserve  my  intellectual  in- 
tegrity, which  is  the  prime  condition  of  all  faith. 
If  Jesus  says,  "Love  your  enemies,  bless  them  that 
curse  you,  do  good  to  them  that  hate  you,  and 
pray  for  them  which  despitefully  use  you  and  per- 
secute you;"2  and  if  this  injunction  awakens 
an  approving  response  in  my  soul,  leading  me  to 
say:  "Yea,  and  amen!  if  everybody  would  do 
that,  the  world  would  be  soon  rid  of  hate/'  then 
that  utterance  is  a  divine  law  with  highest  author- 
ity for  me :  it  meets  with  the  sanction  of  the  pur- 
est and  best  spirit  in  my  soul,  and  I  can  follow  no 
higher  or  better  authority  than  the  highest  and 
best  that  I  am  capable  of  appreciating.     Or,  if 

"Matt.   v.   44. 


216       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Paul  says:  "Be  ye  kind  one  to  another,  tender- 
hearted, forgiving  one  another;"  "render  to  no 
man  evil  for  evil;"  "let  him  that  stole  steal  no 
more;"  "let  no  corrupt  speech  proceed  out  of  your 
mouth;"  "pray  always;"  "in  everything  give 
thanks,"  etc. ;  and  if  I  respond :  "Yes,  Paul,  you 
are  right;  such  are  true  and  blessed  injunctions, 
and  would  that  all  men  might  heed  them!"  then 
those  sayings,  receiving  thus  the  sanction  of  the 
holiest  spirit  in  my  heart,  become  a  heavenly  man- 
date for  my  soul,  with  as  much  authority  as  if 
spoken  by  an  angel. 

In  view  of  these  considerations,  I  conclude  that 
the  nature  of  the  authority  possessed  by  the  Bible, 
or  by  any  part  of  it,  is  simply  its  spiritual  power 
over  our  souls — its  power  to  win  the  assent  of  the 
mind,  or  the  approval  of  the  conscience,  or  the 
love  of  the  heart,  or  the  sanction  of  the  spirit. 
And  the  extent  to  which  the  Bible,  or  any  part  of 
it,  is  thus  authoritative  is  precisely  the  extent  to 
which  it  has  this  power.  The  authority  of  the 
Bible  is  therefore  the  authority  of  a  helper — no 
more,  no  less.  The  Bible  does  not  solve  for  me 
the  great  problems  of  life;  it  merely  helps  me  to 
solve  them.  The  Bible  does  not  make  me  believe 
in  God;  it  simply  helps  me  to  believe  in  him. 
The  Bible  does  not  make  me  believe  in  human  im- 
mortality; it  simply  helps  me  to  believe  in  it. 
The  Bible  does  not  make  me  good ;  it  simply  helps 
me  to  be  good. 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  BIBLE  217 

Accordingly,  nothing  is  to  be  accepted  just  be- 
cause it  is  in  the  Bible;  there  must  be  other  good 
and  sufficient  reasons  for  such  acceptance,  as  there 
must  be  also  for  rejection.  Even  though  the  doc- 
trine of  endless  punishment  were  taught  in  the 
Bible,  I  should  not  feel  that  therefore  I  must  be- 
lieve it.  Or  if  I  am  convinced  that  the  doctrine  of 
universalism  is  taught  in  the  Bible,  this  fact  alone 
is  not  an  adequate  reason  for  my  belief  in  that 
doctrine;  other  considerations  must  harmonize 
with  it  and  support  it.  And  what  I  here  say  about 
the  Bible  I  would  say,  with  all  reverence,  about 
Jesus  Christ.  I  do  not  believe  in  the  teachings  of 
Jesus  Christ  merely  because  they  are  his  teach- 
ings, although  I  wish  to  say  very  emphatically 
that  the  fact  of  his  teaching  any  given  doctrine 
would  go  a  great  way  toward  leading  me  to  be- 
lieve in  it — would  go  farther,  indeed,  than  any 
other  influence  except  my  own  best  thought  and 
purest  spirit.  Rather,  I  believe  in  Jesus  Christ 
because  he  taught  what  he  did.  In  other  words, 
I  do  not  accept  the  teachings  of  Christ  because  I 
believe  that  God  sent  him  into  the  world.  Rather, 
I  believe  that  God  sent  him  into  the  world  be- 
cause I  see  and  feel  that  his  teachings  are  true; 
they  appeal  to  the  best  that  is  in  me,  and  the  best 
that  is  in  me  responds  with  a  deep  and  holy  ap- 
proval. That  is  to  say,  the  teachings  of  Jesus 
Christ  must  stand  upon  their  own  intrinsic  mer- 
its, as  must  all  teachings  in  the  last  analysis.    If 


218      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

they  are  to  endure  and  do  good  in  the  world,  as  I 
have  the  utmost  faith  that  they  are,  it  will  be  be- 
cause they  deserve  to  do  so,  not  merely  because 
he  inculcated  them.  And  the  grandest  thing  about 
Christ's  teachings  is  that  the  experience  of  man- 
kind is  all  the  time  proving  their  merits,  and  thus 
giving  to  them  the  cumulative  power  of  repeated 
and  increasing  corroboration  and  re-inforcement.* 
We  see,  then,  that  everything  in  the  Bible, 
even  everything  in  the  teachings  of  Jesus  Christ, 
is  to  be  brought  to  the  touchstone  of  the  human 
soul  itself,  to  be  tested  and  thereupon  accepted  or 
rejected.4  People  may  call  this  rationalism  and 
heresy;  it  is  merely  that  view  of  spiritual  things 
which  perceives  that  the  human  soul,  although  it  is 
not  the  author  of  truth,  is  emphatically  the  judge 
of  truth.  I  may  not  originate,  or  even  discover, 
the  law  of  gravitation ;  but  I  can  test  it.  I  may  not 
be  the  author  of  the  great  principle  of  brotherly 
love ;  but  I  can  tell  whether  it  is  a  beneficent  force 

*  The  Bible  is  a  great  record  of  human  experience  in  moral 
and  religious  things.  As  such  it  becomes  a  kind  of  spiritual  mir- 
ror, which,  when  one  looks  into  it,  brings  one  to  spiritual  self- 
knowledge  by  reflecting  and  interpreting  one's  own  similar  experi- 
ences; and  thus  it  both  stimulates  and  enlarges  those  personal 
experiences,  while  tending  to  correct  their  eccentricities  by  the  in- 
fluence of  the  many  on  the  one.  So  experience  is  perpetually 
confirming  the  deep  things  of  the  Bible,  while  at  the  same  time 
the  Bible  is  perpetually  awakening  and  confirming  the  deep  ex- 
periences of  the  individual  soul.  The  voice  of  God  in  the  soul 
answers  to  the  voice  of  God  in  those  other  souls  whose  earnest 
words  constitute  the   Bible. 

*  This  is  precisely  the  genuine  Lutheran,  as  opposed  to  the 
post-Lutheran,  view.  See  Dr.  Tholuck's  article,  "The  Doctrine  of 
Inspiration,"  quoted  above. 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  BIBLE  219 

in  human  society.  I  may  not  be  the  first  to  dream 
of  human  immortality;  but  I  can  say  whether  I 
consider  it  to  be  anything  more  than  a  dream. 
Jesus  Christ  may  reveal  or  declare  to  me  the 
Fatherhood  of  God;  but  it  is  for  me  to  decide, 
and  in  all  lowliness  I  must  hold  myself  competent 
to  decide  for  myself,  whether  I  believe  that  sub- 
lime doctrine  to  be  reasonable,  soul-satisfying, 
and  blessed.  And  so  I  do  not  say  that  man  is  to 
be  deemed  the  author  of  religious  truth;  but  I 
do  say  that  he  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  judge  of  it 
— a  distinction  which  we  need  always  to  bear  in 
mind.5  I  do  not  claim  that  man  may  write  his 
own  Bible,  and  has  no  need  of  the  Hebrew  and 
Christian  Bible;  or  that  man  may  be  his  own 
Savior,  and  does  not  need  such  a  saving  teacher 
as  Jesus  Christ — far  be  it  from  me  to  suggest 
the  thought ! — but  I  do  maintain  that  he  is  to  pro- 
nounce, as  best  he  can,  upon  their  merits,  and  that 
they  can  have  no  authority  for  him  except  as  they 
win  the  assent  of  his  mind,  the  approval  of  his 
conscience,  the  love  of  his  heart,  and  the  sanction 
of  rr»s  spirit. 

I  see  no  escape  from  this  position  except  in  the 
surrender  of  the  intellectual,  moral,  and  religious 
judgment  of  the  individual  human  soul.6    Either 

■"He  that  is  spiritual  judgeth  all  things."  (I  Cor.  ii.  15). 

•  See  Professor  Wilhelm  Hermann's  Faith  and  Morals  (G.  P. 
Putnam's  Sons,  1904),  which  has  come  to  hand  since  this  chapter 
was  written.  He  insists  throughout  on  the  point  here  made.  See 
especially  pp.    175-85;   also  p.   285:   "Only  the  man  who  can  stand 


220      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

we  must  judge  for  ourselves,  or  we  must  yield  to 
the  judgment  of  another.  We  may  yield  to  the 
assertion  of  a  great  and  mighty  Church,  or  to  the 
declaration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  or  to  the  utter- 
ance of  Jesus  Christ,  or  to  the  interpretation  of 
these  given  by  one  of  our  fellow-men;  but  if  we 
thus  yield  without  finally  deciding  for  ourselves 
as  to  what  we  consider  to  be  true  and  right  and 
obligatory,  we  simply  abdicate  the  supreme  privi- 
lege and  responsibility  of  a  spiritual  being, 
namely,  self-determination.  Let  us  remember 
that  Jesus  Christ  never  requires  any  such  abdica- 
tion on  our  part;  rather  he  summons  us  always 
to  judgment,  decision,  choice,  self-direction.  He 
said  to  the  people:  "Why  even  of  yourselves 
judge  ye  not  not  what  is  right  ?" 7  "Judge  not  ac- 
ing  to  the  appearance,  but  judge  righteous  judg- 
ment;" 8  "He  that  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him 
hear."  9  His  appeal  in  all  his  teaching  is  to  the 
deepest,  purest,  highest  thought  and  spirit  in  the 
soul  of  man;  and  forever  does  he  urge  men  to 
take  his  teaching  and  put  it  to  the  supreme  test  of 
experience  in  actual  conduct.  He  waits  for  men 
to  accept  him;  if  they  reject  him,  he  leaves  the 

by  himself  in  the  strength  of  his  moral  perceptions  can  be  reli- 
giously alive.  For  it  is  only  in  his  independent  perception  of  what 
is  good  that  he  has  the  ability  to  perceive  the  power  of  God  that 
is  at  work  upon  him."  The  volume  is  extremely  valuable  as  a  cogent 
statement  of  the  true   Protestant  position. 

7  Luke  xii.  57. 

8  John  vii.  24. 
•  Matt.  xi.   15. 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  BIBLE  22 1 

responsibility  with  them;  he  never  seeks  to  drive 
people,  but  rather  seeks  to  lead  them  by  winning 
their  free  indorsement,  trust,  and  love.  In  this 
he  is  supremely  wise;  he  respects  too  much  the 
august  nature  of  the  human  soul  ever  to  coerce 
anyone  by  imposing  his  authority  upon  mind,  con- 
science, or  heart.  He  will  have  our  intelligent, 
sincere,  voluntary,  affectionate  discipleship,  or  he 
will  let  us  go  our  own  way.  Likewise,  the  Bible 
does  not  dictate.  It  exhibits  divine  truth,  and  in- 
dicates the  will  of  God;  it  appeals,  exhorts,  en- 
treats, urges  the  holiest  considerations,  and  pleads 
with  men  for  righteous  and  pure  living;  but 
it  leaves  the  duty  of  decision  and  action  with 
them,  saying :  "Choose  ye  this  day  whom  ye  will 
serve."  10  And  because  the  formation  of  correct 
spiritual  judgments,  in  matters  of  morality  and 
religion,  constitutes  a  large  part  of  our  best  educa- 
tion, the  Bible  affords  us  in  its  varied  and  rich  lit- 
erature the  most  valuable  material  we  possess, 
aside  from  our  own  daily  experience  with  our 
fellow-men,  for  making  the  most  important  dis- 
tinctions we  are  ever  required  to  make,  namely, 
the  distinctions  between  right  and  wrong,  between 
true  and  false,  in  conduct  and  character,  in  the 
service  of  God  and  man.  Therefore  it  is  of  the 
greatest  consequence  that  the  view  of  the  Bible 
which  I  have  presented,  calling  upon  the  individ- 
ual soul  for  discernment,  and  leaving  with  the  in- 

10  Josh.  xxiv.  15. 


222      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

dividual  soul  at  all  hazards  the  privilege  and  duty 
of  final  judgment  as  to  the  teachings  of  the  Bible, 
should  be  maintained  as  against  that  conception 
of  its  authority  which  virtually  denies  the  right  of 
such  private  judgment. 

I  am  aware  that  this  reasoning  will  seem  to 
cut  the  ground  out  from  under  the  feet  of  many 
devout  and  earnest  people.  I  know  very  well 
how  strongly  certain  excellent  persons  desire  to 
believe  in  a  Bible  and  a  Savior  given  directly  from 
God,  bearing  the  unmistakable  seal  of  his  ap- 
proval, whose  utterances  may  be  accepted  without 
any  question  or  misgiving.  Such  a  faith  in  such 
a  Bible  and  such  a  Savior  seems  to  afford  great 
rest,  peace,  and  comfort  to  the  soul ;  and  I  can 
easily  understand  how,  for  weary,  troubled,  sin- 
sick  mortals,  it  is  an  unspeakable  relief  to  believe, 
with  reference  to  Christ  particularly,  that  they  can 
lay  all  their  burdens  down  at  the  feet  of  an  in- 
fallible Teacher  of  divine  truth,  a  heavenly  Sav- 
ior, who  actually  knows  what  divine  truth  is, 
without  any  uncertainty,  and  who  therefore  is 
able  to  remove  all  their  perplexities,  so  that  they 
need  only  to  hear  what  he  says,  take  his  word 
with  implicit  trust,  and  go  on  obeying  it,  no  longer 
trying  to  think  out  for  themselves  the  great  prob- 
lems of  life,  but  simply  believing  and  doing  their 
duty  with  child-like  docility  and  fidelity.  I  grant, 
indeed,  that  this  attitude  is  natural,  reasonable, 
and  wholesome,  especially  for  those  who  have 


AUTHORITY  OF  THE  BIBLE  223 

been  torn  by  temptation  and  sin,  distracted  by 
doubts,  and  overwhelmed  by  sorrow ;  and  I  re- 
joice to  know  that  the  Bible  and  Christ  are  able 
to  meet  just  such  needs,  to  deal  with  us  all  as  with 
little  children,  to  condescend  to  our  lowliness  and 
imperfection,  to  take  us  by  the  hand  and  lead  us 
through  the  tangled  pathway  which  we  feel  our- 
selves powerless  to  thread  alone.  In  fact,  so  great 
is  the  Bible,  and  so  great  is  the  Savior,  that  they 
are  both  able  to  help  the  weakest  as  well  as  the 
strongest;  and  when  the  wrongs  or  the  woes  of 
life  press  most  heavily  upon  us,  when  the  world 
grows  dark,  and  our  feet  falter,  and  our  wisdom 
fails  us,  and  our  hearts  are  fearful,  the  Divine 
Voice,  speaking  through  each  of  these  Comfort- 
ers, says  to  us :  "This  is  the  way,  walk  ye  in  it ;" 
"If  any  man  will  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the 
doctrine ;"  "Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled,  neither 
let  it  be  afraid." 

But  in  all  this  we  need  to  remember  that  such 
help  as  we  thus  derive  from  Christ  and  the  Bible 
springs,  not  from  what  we  imagine  them  to  be, 
but  from  what  they  really  are.  We  cannot  make 
either  of  them  superhuman  by  merely  calling  them 
so ;  we  cannot  give  to  either  an  authority  in  spir- 
itual things  by  ascribing  all  sorts  of  miracles  and 
marvels  to  them;  we  cannot  first  put  infallibility 
into  them,  and  then  appeal  to  them  as  infallible 
sources  of  moral  and  religious  truth.  Whatever 
truth  there  is  in  them  already,  regardless  of  us, 


224      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

will  help  us  when  we  find  it;  and  no  amount  of 
reverent  and  extravagant  praise,  no  factitious 
claims,  no  superlative  adjectives,  can  make  them 
other  than  what  they  actually  are.  What  they 
are  is,  as  I  have  said  that  they  are,  helpers  to  true 
living — not  substitutes  for  thought,  or  love,  or 
the  dictates  of  conscience,  or  the  spirit  of  holiness 
in  ourselves ;  but  simply  aids  to  all  these ;  and  the 
only  authority  they  possess  is  in  their  power  to 
draw  us  toward  the  life  of  God,  or  to  awaken  us 
to  a  consciousness  of  the  life  of  God  within  us— 
a  power  which  they  are  perpetually  proving  them- 
selves to  have,  as  one  after  another  of  God's  chil- 
dren puts  them  to  the  supreme  test  of  practice.  If 
you  and  I  will  but  learn  to  apply  this  test,  we  shall 
soon  find  that  both  Christ  and  the  Bible  are  able 
to  lift  our  souls  into  the  sunshine  of  the  Divine 
Presence,  ever  mysterious  and  ever  blessed, 
wherein  the  clouds  of  error,  doubt,  and  sin  dis- 
solve, and  where  alone  can  be  found  the  "peace 
which  passeth  all  understanding.' ' 


PART  II 

THE  VALUE  AND  USE  OF  THE 
BIBLE 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE    NEW    APPRECIATION    OF   THE    BIBLE 

It  is  interesting  to  study  the  workings  of  the 
human  mind  in  its  progressive  apprehension  of  the 
truth.  We  may  properly  say  that  the  realities 
of  the  universe,  spiritual  as  well  as  material,  for- 
ever await  our  cognition;  but  the  universe  is  in- 
finite and  its  realities  are  marvelously  complex, 
while  we  are  finite  and  our  mental  expansion  at 
best  must  be  gradual ;  hence  we  acquire  our  knowl- 
edge in  fragments,  by  glimpses  and  slowly  en- 
larging visions,  and  often  through  painful  efforts 
to  readjust  ourselves  to  the  changing  views  which 
command  our  attention. 

A  new  idea  is  liable  to  shock,  disturb,  and  per- 
haps alarm  us,  if  not  indeed  to  arouse  our  angry 
opposition ;  but  later,  when  we  become  acquainted 
with  it  and  find  it  a  friend  instead  of  an  enemy, 
we  assent  to  its  claims,  embrace  it,  and  let  it  en- 
rich our  lives.  How  frequently  this  twofold  ex- 
perience has  occurred,  on  a  vast  scale,  even  in  the 
most  important  movements  of  thought,  the  his- 
tory of  Christianity  and  of  modern  learning 
abundantly  shows.  Jesus  Christ  came  inculcating 
a  liberal  and  lofty  doctrine,  far  in  advance  of  his 
time ;  but  because  his  countrymen  could  not  appre- 
ciate it,  or  would  not  allow  it  to  displace  their 
cherished  notions,  he  had  to  suffer  martyrdom; 

227 


228      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

yet  later  the  world  discovered  that  his  was  the 
most  sublime  teaching  ever  imparted,  and  now  his 
name  is  honored  as  is  none  other  in  all  the  earth. 
When  Galileo  and  Copernicus  first  enunciated 
their  conceptions  of  the  solar  system,  they  were 
denounced  as  enemies  of  the  Christian  faith,  and 
were  subjected  by  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  to 
shameful  persecution;  yet  now  all  Christendom 
gladly  acknowledges  an  immense  debt  of  grati- 
tude to  them  and  to  other  scholars  like  them  for  a 
stupendous  enlargement  of  man's  vision  of  the 
Divine  Order  in  the  material  universe.  The  same 
thing  is  true  of  the  disclosures  of  modern  geology, 
which  at  first  were  repudiated  as  atheistic  because 
not  harmonizing  with  the  accounts  of  creation 
given  in  Genesis,  but  later  came  to  be  recog- 
nized as  vastly  increasing  the  Christian's  belief  in 
the  infinite  wisdom  and  power  of  him  who  may  be 
now  called,  with  greater  fitness  than  ever  before, 
the  "Ancient  of  Days."  Finally,  in  our  own  age, 
we  have  seen  the  wonderful  theory  of  evolution 
condemned  for  similar  reasons ;  and  yet,  so  swiftly 
fly  the  wheels  of  time,  this  very  generation  has 
witnessed  the  quick  reversal  of  this  early  judg- 
ment, and  the  grateful  acceptance  at  present,  by 
a  host  of  the  most  intelligent  and  consistent  Chris- 
tians, of  the  evolutionary  hypothesis  as  the  largest 
contribution  to  religious  faith — that  is,  to  faith  in 
a  divinely  ordered  universe — which  mankind  has 
ever  received,  except  from  the  gospel  itself. 


NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE      229 

Such  instances  should  teach  us  the  folly  of 
hasty  opposition  to  new  ideas.  At  the  same  time 
they  should  teach  us  patience;  for  we  see  that  a 
prolonged  effort  is  often  necessary  for  the  human 
mind  to  adapt  its  vision  to  the  new  light,  to 
modify  its  old  conceptions,  to  recast  its  thinking, 
and  so  perhaps  to  alter  habits  of  conduct,  methods 
of  work,  and  the  character  of  outward  institu- 
tions. 

Moreover,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  different 
classes  of  people  come  to  the  apprehension  of  new 
truth  with  varying  degrees  of  promptness.  Nat- 
urally, the  inquirers,  investigators,  explorers  are 
the  first  to  find  it;  then  the  scholars,  very  likely, 
pass  judgment  upon  it;  then  the  teachers,  stu- 
dents, and  intelligent  readers  learn  about  it;  and 
last  of  all  it  reaches  the  multitude.  Thus  it  may 
easily  happen  that  the  more  enlightened  among 
all  these  may  become  familiar  with  new  ideas  and 
facts,  accepting  and  appreciating  them,  long  be- 
fore less  progressive  minds  are  made  aware  of 
them;  and  so  what  is  fully  established  with  the 
educated  at  a  given  time  may  be  just  beginning  to 
disturb  others  and  to  evoke  their  antagonism.  At 
length,  however,  verified  knowledge  filters  down 
through  all  grades  of  society,  becoming  the  prop- 
erty of  every  mind  and  enriching  the  whole  world. 

Now  it  cannot  be  surprising  to  find  that  pre- 
cisely such  a  history  has  repeated  itself  in  the 
study  of  the  Bible.    We  have  learned  that,  during 


230      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

the  last  two  centuries,  there  has  been  growing  up, 
among  the  scholarly  classes,  a  new  general  concep- 
tion of  the  origin  and  character  of  the  Hebrew 
and  Christian  Scriptures,  which  is  not  less  im- 
portant, in  its  implications  and  within  the  field  of 
its  influence,  than  the  scientific  disclosures  in  the 
physical  realm  to  which  allusion  has  been  made. 
This  conception,  too,  is  scientific,  and  the  noble 
science  that  has  yielded  it  is  given  the  name  of 
"Biblical  Criticism."  Slowly  and  patiently,  with 
laborious  research,  through  many  conflicts  of 
opinion,  and  often  in  the  face  of  bitter  opposition, 
its  theories  and  conclusions  have  been  wrought 
out^  and  at  length  there  is  a  vast  body  of  informa- 
tion, legitimately  entitled  to  be  called  scientific 
knowledge,  which  is  unhesitatingly  accepted  by  a 
host  of  the  best  scholars  of  the  world,  and  is  now 
freely  shedding  its  light  upon  the  wider  circles 
that  must  soon  greatly  benefit  by  it  and  rejoice 
in  it. 

As  yet,  however,  while  this  new  and  scientific 
view  of  the  Bible  may  be  said  to  be  substantially 
established  among  large  numbers  of  the  educated 
classes  and  is  rapidly  winning  new  adherents,  it  is 
still  in  the  disturbing,  perplexing  stage  among  the 
common  people.  They  have  heard  something 
about  it,  but  they  do  not  understand  it.  Natur- 
ally and  rightfully  they  cling  to  their  old  concep- 
tions because  these  are  deeply  rooted  in  their 
minds  and  seem  very  precious,  and  because  they 


NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE       231 

do  not  quite  comprehend  the  significance  of  the 
proffered  substitute.  What  is  needed,  therefore, 
is  not  denunciation,  on  either  hand,  but  informa- 
tion, instruction,  enlightenment,  patient  consider- 
ation. Fortunately,  much  of  this  is  now  being 
afforded  in  many  wise  and  helpful  ways.  Within 
recent  years  numerous  handbooks  have  been  pub- 
lished which  have  simplified  the  knowledge  con- 
tained in  the  elaborate  works  of  the  scholars ;  the 
writings  of  the  Bible  have  been  issued  in  various 
translations  and  in  attractive  literary  forms;  and 
the  ministers  have  taught  their  congregations  and 
Sunday-school  teachers  somewhat  of  the  new 
truth  about  the  Sacred  Volume  as  it  has  been  elu- 
cidated by  the  science  of  biblical  criticism. 

As  a  result  of  all  this  education,  both  profes- 
sional and  popular,  it  is  now  beginning  to  be  ap- 
parent to  many  thoughtful  minds  that  the  grand 
outcome  of  modern  learning  in  this  fertile  field  is, 
not  a  depreciation  of  the  Bible,  as  some  have 
feared,  but  rather  a  new  and  higher  appreciation 
of  it.  This  very  gratifying  fact  is  full  of  encour- 
agement and  inspiration  for  all  who  cherish  the 
most  vital  interests  of  spiritual  religion.  Accord- 
ingly it  becomes  a  happy  privilege  to  portray  the 
principal  features  of  what  may  be  thus  most  con- 
fidently stlyed  "The  New  Appreciation  of  the 
Bible,"  so  that  it  may  be  appropriated,  and  fresh 
light  and  power  may  be  derived  from  the  vener- 
able pages  of  Holy  Writ. 


232       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

We  are  all  aware  that  there  was  an  old  appre- 
ciation of  the  Bible,  and  that  it  is  now  passing 
away.  It  regarded  the  Book,  from  beginning  to 
end,  as  "the  Word  of  God."  By  this  phrase  was 
meant  that  it  was  fully  inspired  by  the  Almighty, 
and  was  infallible  in  its  teachings;  that  it  was  all 
essentially  alike  in  its  nature,  so  that  no  part  could 
be  rejected  without  invalidating  the  whole;  and 
especially  that  it  constituted  a  divine  revelation — 
that  is,  a  revelation  of  God's  thought  and  will  con- 
cerning man,  of  his  mercy  and  love,  of  the  way 
of  salvation,  and  of  the  eternal  destiny  of  the 
human  soul.  Therefore  a  knowledge  of  the  Bible, 
and  particularly  of  the  Savior  whom  it  mani- 
fested, was  considered  indispensable  to  the  re- 
demption of  mankind;  and  so  missionaries  have 
been  prompted  to  go  into  all  the  world  carrying 
these  Holy  Scriptures  as  a  veritable  way  of  life 
for  the  perishing  nations,  without  which  they 
were  indeed  rushing  into  the  bottomless  pit. 

In  this  view  the  Bible  was  thought  to  bring 
to  each  person  a  direct  message  from  God,  in- 
tended as  much  for  one  reader  as  for  another,  and 
literally  intended  for  all ;  that  is  to  say,  addressed 
as  much  to  the  people  of  the  twentieth  century  as 
to  those  of  the  first — a  proclamation  or  summons 
from  the  Throne  of  Heaven  to  every  man  on  the 
face  of  the  earth  whom  it  might  reach;  and  woe 
unto  him  whom  it  did  not  reach!  And  likewise 
woe  unto  him  who,  hearing,  rejected  or  disre- 


NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE       233 

garded  it!  How,  then,  could  anyone  who  sin- 
cerely entertained  such  a  conception  fail  to  rev- 
erence, honor,  and  love  these  precious  Writings, 
or  fail  to  read  them  diligently,  with  fear  and 
trembling  ?  As  a  matter  of  fact,  pious  and  earnest 
Christians  did  so  esteem  and  treat  them ;  and  when 
the  Scriptures  began  to  be  translated  out  of  the 
Latin  into  the  common  tongues  of  Germany  and 
England,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  people  re- 
ceived them  with  devoutest  joy  and  perused  them 
with  unwearied  zeal;  and  we  read  of  Puritan 
divines,  in  Boston,  about  1635,  sitting  up  all  night, 
in  the  dead  of  winter,  to  study  these  written  ora- 
cles of  the  Most  High  God.  This  conception  and 
use  of  the  Bible  are  sweetly  embalmed  for  us  in 
the  poem  of  Robert  Burns  entitled  The  Cotter's 
Saturday  Night. 

The   cheerfu'    supper   done,   wi'    serious    face, 

They,  round  the  ingle,  form  a  circle  wide; 
The  sire  turns  o'er,  wi'  patriarchal  grace, 

The    big    ha'-Bible,    ance    his    father's    pride: 
His   bonnet   rev'rently    is    laid    aside, 

His  lyart  haffets  *  wearing  thin  an'  bare; 
Those    strains    that    once    did    sweet    in    Zion    glide, 

He  wales2  a  portion   with  judicious  care; 
And  "Let  us  worship  God!"  he  says,  with  solemn  air. 

The   priestlike   father   reads   the   sacred   page, 
How  Abram  was  the  friend  of  God  on  high; 

Or  Moses  bade  eternal  warfare  wage 
With  Amalek's  ungracious  progeny; 

1  Grey    locks. 

•  Chooses. 


234      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Or  how  the  royal  Bard  did  groaning  lie 
Beneath  the   stroke  of   Heaven's  avenging  ire; 

Or  Job's  pathetic  plaint,  and  wailing  cry; 
Or   rapt   Isaiah's   wild,   seraphic   fire; 
Or  other  holy  seers  that  tune  the  sacred  lyre. 

Perhaps  the  Christian  volume  is  the  theme, 

How  guiltless  blood  for  guilty   man  was  shed; 
How  He,  who  bore  in  Heav'n  the   second  name, 

Had  not  on  earth  whereon  to  lay  His  head: 
How  His  first  followers  and  servants  sped; 

The  precepts  sage  they  wrote  to  many  a  land: 
How  he,  who   lone   in   Patmos  banished, 

Saw  in  the  sun  a  mighty  angel  stand; 
And     heard     great     Bab'lon's     doom     pronounced     by 
Heav'n's  command. 

Then   kneeling  down,  to   Heav'n's   Eternal  King, 

The   saint,   the   father,   and  the  husband  prays: 
Hope    "springs    exulting   on    triumphant    wing," 

That  thus  they  all  shall  meet  in  future  days: 
There  ever  bask  in  uncreated  rays, 

No  more  to  sigh,  or  shed  the  bitter  tear, 
Together  hymning  their   Creator's   praise, 

In  such  society,  yet  still  more  dear; 
While  circling  time  moves  round  in  an  eternal  sphere. 

How  many  souls  have  been  brought  to  a  con- 
scious communion  with  God,  to  pure  and  faithful 
living,  and  to  a  triumphant  death,  under  this  old, 
reverent  appreciation  of  the  Bible,  only  the  Re- 
cording Angel  could  tell;  certainly  their  number 
is  legion;  and  if  these  moral  and  religious  in- 
fluences shall  pass  out  of  our  civilization  with  the 
passing  of  the  traditional  ideas  of  the  nature  of 
the  Bible,  without  leaving  a  better  substitute,  our 


NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE       235 

civilization  will  suffer  a  spiritual  impoverishment 
scarcely  to  be  measured.  But  we  must  do  our  ut- 
most to  make  sure  that,  with  the  coming  of  a  new 
conception  of  the  origin  and  character  of  the 
Bible,  there  shall  come  also  a  new  appreciation  of 
its  great  excellence,  a  new  understanding  of  the 
truth  which  it  discloses,  and  a  more  vital  grasp  of 
the  spiritual  realities  to  which  it  bears  potent  and 
perennial  witness. 

Let  us  begin  by  glancing  at  three  fundamental 
aspects  of  the  new  appreciation  of  the  Bible,  the 
due  consideration  of  which  will  prepare  us  for  fur 
ther  estimates  and  applications. 

1.  There  is  a  new  appreciation  of  the  Bible  as 
literature.  It  is  as  a  body  of  literature  that  the 
new  conception  primarily  regards  it.  For,  what- 
ever else  the  Bible  may  be,  and  whatever  mes- 
sages of  divine  import  it  may  contain  for  us,  it 
comes  to  us  first  of  all  as  a  collection  of  ancient 
writings — not  a  single  book,  but  a  library  of 
sixty-six  different  books.  As  such  a  mass  of  lit- 
erature, it  is  to  be  examined,  analyzed,  and  ap- 
praised by  the  same  rules  and  processes  of  study 
which  the  experience  of  scholars  has  found  neces- 
sary in  the  study  of  any  other  literary  products 
treated  as  literature;  that  is  to  say,  no  theory  of 
supernatural  inspiration  can  be  allowed  to  set 
aside  the  fact  that  the  Bible  was  written  by  men, 
in  human  language,  under  certain  intelligible  his- 
torical circumstances.     Our  first  task,  therefore, 


236      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

is  to  take  any  given  portion  of  the  Scriptures  sim- 
ply as  a  piece  of  human  writing,  to  understand 
what  the  author  says,  to  comprehend  what  he 
means  as  fully  as  we  can,  and,  in  order  that  we 
may  do  this,  to  have  some  clear  and  correct  idea 
of  the  conditions  under  which  he  wrote,  as  to 
time  and  place,  national  or  social  influences,  rela- 
tions to  surrounding  nations,  prevailing  views, 
and  any  other  elements  in  the  situation  which 
may  explain  his  message. 

Doing  these  things  for  the  various  writings 
which  make  up  the  Bible,  we  soon  find  that  they 
constitute  a  peculiar  literature — narrow,  but  deep ; 
profoundly  ethical,  intensely  religious,  and  won- 
derfully expressive  of  the  spiritual  experiences  of 
the  earnest  human  soul.  But  we  also  discover 
that  there  is  a  great  variety  in  its  contents,  that  it 
is  not  all  alike,  either  in  literary  form,  or  in  ideas 
and  ideals.  It  contains  history,  philosophy, 
poetry  of  many  kinds,  fiction,  love-stories,  a  hymn- 
book,  collections  of  maxims  for  practical  conduct, 
brief  biographies,  letters  of  spiritual  counsel  and 
friendly  correspondence,  and  ecstatic  visions  of 
seers  and  dreamers,  along  with  sermons  that  re- 
buke sin  and  plead  for  uprightness  with  passion- 
ate ardor.  And  the  quality  of  its  utterances 
ranges  from  the  childish  notions  of  a  primitive 
people  just  emerging  from  slavery,  and  from  the 
moral  pessimism  of  a  satiated  sensualist,  to  the 
sublimest  and  most  comprehensive  thought  of  the 


NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE       237 

greatest  spiritual  Teacher  the  world  has  ever 
known,  and  to  the  mighty  grasp  of  truth  and  the 
glorified  ethical  devotion  of  a  philosopher  who 
had  drunk  deeply  from  the  wells  of  his  ancestral 
religion,  who  knew  something  about  the  specula- 
tion and  culture  of  Greece,  and  who  had  found  the 
solution  of  life's  problems  in  the  holy  gospel  of 
the  Son  of  Man. 

It  is  in  view  of  facts  like  these  that  many  in- 
telligent people  are  now  pleading  for  the  literary 
study  of  the  Bible,  especially  in  our  colleges  and 
universities.  The  Reverend  Theodore  T.  Mun- 
ger,  D.D.,  was  one  of  the  first  to  make  such  a 
plea,  perhaps  as  early  as  about  1885 ;  others  heart- 
ily approved  the  idea,  and  soon  biblical  profes- 
sorships were  established  in  a  few  institutions  not 
specifically  for  the  education  of  ministers.  Now 
there  are  such  professorships  in  a  considerable 
number  of  the  universities,  and  the  work  of  the 
department  meets  with  increasing  favor.  Mean- 
while, writers  like  Dr.  Hamilton  W.  Mabie  and 
Professor  Richard  G.  Moulton  are  doing  much  to 
popularize  this  important  idea.  Professor  Moul- 
ton holds  the  chair  of  English  literature  in  the 
University  of  Chicago,  and  stands  in  the  front 
rank  of  competent  literary  judges;  and  he  has 
written : 

It  is  surely  good  that  our  youth,  during  the  forma- 
tive period,  should  have  displayed  to  them,  in  a  literary 
dress   as   brilliant   as   that  of   Greek   literature — in   lyrics 


238      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

which  Pindar  cannot  surpass,  in  rhetoric  as  forcible  as 
that  of  Demosthenes,  or  contemplative  prose  not  in- 
ferior to  Plato's — a  people  dominated  by  an  utter  passion 
for  righteousness,  a  people  whom  ideas  of  purity,  of  in- 
finite good,  of  universal  order,  of  faith  in  the  irresistible 
downfall  of  all  moral  evil,  moved  to  a  poetic  passion  as 
fervid,  and  speech  as  musical,  as  when  Sappho  sang  of 
love  or  iEschylus  thundered  his  deep  notes  of  destiny. 
When  it  is  added  that  the  familiarity  of  the  English 
Bible  renders  all  this  possible  without  the  demand  upon 
the  time-table  that  would  be  involved  in  the  learning  of 
another  language,  it  seems  clear  that  our  school  and  col- 
lege curricula  will  not  have  shaken  off  their  mediaeval 
narrowness  and  renaissance  paganism  until  classical  and 
biblical  literatures  stand  side  by  side  as  sources  of  our 
highest   culture.3 

Again  he  has  said : 

A  knowledge  of  Jewish  literature  and  principles  of 
morality  and  religion  is  essential,  not  only  for  our  reli- 
gious life,  but  for  a  complete  education.  Our  modern 
life  is  drawn  from  two  sources:  from  Greece  we  obtain 
our  intellectual  elements,  from  Palestine  we  take  our  re- 
ligion and  our  moral  ideals.  A  knowledge  of  classic 
literature  has  always  been  considered  necessary  to  com- 
plete education.  If,  however,  we  study  the  classics  only, 
our  education  becomes  one-sided.  In  order  to  come  into 
contact  with  the  other  essential  element  of  our  life,  we 
must  study  the  Jewish  literature  as  we  find  it  in  the 
Bible.* 

The  same  writer  points  out  that  the  mechanical 

form  in  which  the  writings  of  the  Bible  come 

to  us  hinders  our  appreciation  of  their  literary 

structure. 

In  mediaeval  times  following  the  method  of  Jewish 
rabbis,   the    Bible   was   viewed   as   a   collection    of   texts, 

'  The  Literary  Study  of  the  Bible,  pp.  ix,  x. 
*  A  newspaper  report  of  a  lecture. 


NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE      239 

and  the  only  work  in  interpretation  of  the  Bible  was.  in 

the  form  of  commenting  upon  those  texts At  the 

time  of  the  writing  of  the  King  James'  version,  this 
mediaeval  spirit  was  at  its  height.  As  a  consequence,  our 
Bible  is  divided  into  verses  and  chapters.  This  division 
is  harmful  to  a  thoughtful  interpretation  of  the  whole. 
....  If  we  should  make  a  collection  of  the  works  of 
Shakespeare,  the  essays  of  Emerson,  the  poems  of  Mil- 
ton, and  others  of  our  great  literary  productions,  remove 
from  them  all  distinguishing  marks  of  titles,  so  as  to 
have  a  great  conglomerate  literary  mass,  and  then  should 
divide  this  mass  into  sections  merely  with  regard  to 
convenience  of  use  as  a  textbook,  but  not  distinguishing 
the  different  literary  characteristics  of  the  different  works, 
we  would  have  a  condition  exactly  corresponding  to  that 
in  the  King  James'  version.  The  difficulty  of  interpret- 
ing such  a  mass  is  easily  seen.5 

Professor  Moulton  himself  has  rendered  the 
English-reading  public  a  great  service  in  this  very 
direction  by  arranging  all  the  books  of  the  Bible, 
with  their  various  contents,  in  what  he  conceives 
to  be  their  appropriate  literary  form,  so  that  the 
printed  page  enables  the  eye  to  see  this  at  a  glance, 
and  by  supplying  introductory  explanations,  titles, 
and  notes ;  and  the  entire  work  has  been  published 
in  a  series  of  most  convenient  little  volumes  which 
it  is  a  delight  to  handle  and  read,  and  which  may 
be  had  for  about  forty  cents  each. 

If  we  approach  and  treat  the  Bible  in  the  man- 
ner here  indicated,  we  shall  soon  acquiesce  in  the 
judgment  of  Dr.  Hamilton  W.  Mabie,  that 

the    conception    of    the    Bible    as    literature    is    the    only 
rational  way  of  conceiving  of  it.     Without  the  imagina- 
■  The  same  newspaper  report. 


240      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

tion  which  created  the  Bible,  it  cannot  be  understood. 
If  it  should  come  to  us  today  unknown  to  us,  how  eagerly 
all  men  would  turn  to  it!  It  is  just  as  beautiful,  and  just 
as  great,  and  just  as  divine  as  if  it  had  been  found  only 
yesterday.* 

2.  There  is  next  a  new  appreciation  of  the 
Bible  as  history.  It  comes  to  us  out  of  a  distant 
past,  and  it  makes  that  past  live  again  vividly,  in- 
structively, impressively.  To  most  men  the  ages 
that  are  gone  are  a  dim,  shadowy,  dark  back- 
ground. Personal  memory  is  very  short;  family 
traditions  are  exceedingly  uncertain;  and  beyond 
two  or  three  generations  the  great  majority  of 
people  can  scarcely  have  any  reliable  information 
which  does  not  come  from  an  intelligent  study  of 
history.  Like  a  great  cloud  on  the  far  horizon,  or 
like  a  vast,  unexplored  wilderness,  is  the  unknown 
life  of  former  times  until  illumined  by  the  histo- 
rian's torch.  And  because  the  present  life  of  the 
world,  with  its  manifold  interests  and  tendencies, 
is  the  product  of  the  past,  and  therefore  can  be 
understood  only  in  the  light  of  its  antecedents, 
history  becomes  a  most  important  branch  of  learn- 
ing. Never  was  its  importance  more  appreciated 
than  now;  never  was  its  pursuit  so  realistic,  so 
fascinating,  so  profitable. 

Now  the  Bible  takes  our  thought  backward 
nearly  four  thousand  years;  and  the  earlier  half 
of  this  period,  as  it  concerns  certain  extremely 

•  Newspaper  report  of  address,  December  19,   1903. 


NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE       24] 

significant  developments,  is  reflected  with  remark- 
able clearness  in  its  pages.  As  we  read  those 
pages  we  see,  not  only  the  people  of  Israel,  but 
also  those  of  Chaldea,  Egypt,  Assyria,  Babylonia, 
Phoenicia,  Syria,  Arabia,  Greece,  and  Rome;  and 
we  learn  something  thus  of  the  most  influential 
civilizations  of  antiquity.  Soon  do  we  discover 
that  the  men  of  those  ancient  days  were  men  oi 
like  passions  with  ourselves;  the  essential  unity 
of  the  human  race  is  confirmed  in  our  thought; 
and  the  great,  spiritual  laws  that  govern  conduct, 
together  with  the  mighty  Providence  that  over- 
rules the  affairs  and  events  of  nations,  are  dis- 
played on  a  stupendous  scale.  A  sense  of  conti- 
nuity grows  up  in  the  mind ;  we  understand  how, 
to  the  Divine  Government,  "a  thousand  years 
....  are  but  as  yesterday  when  it  is  passed,  and 
as  a  watch  in  the  night;"  and  so  nothing  less  than 
the  sublime  thought  of  God,  transcendent  yet  im- 
manent, can  satisfy  and  hold  us,  can  steady  and 
guide  us,  as  we  think  of  our  little,  personal  lives  in 
the  far-reaching  stream  of  history.  Thus  the 
past  lives  again  only  to  make  the  present  even 
more  real  than  ever;  and  we  have  faith  in  the 
future  because  we  are  thus  enabled  to  see 
somewhat  of  "the  purpose  of  the  ages." 

Only  the  historical  view  of  the  Bible — the  view 
which  reproduces,  both  generally  and  with  much 
detail,  the  times  and  conditions  out  of  which  it 
grew  up  as  a  living  literature — can  serve  us  in 


242       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

this  way.  To  regard  the  Bible  first  as  written 
primarily  for  us,  of  a  later  time,  is  to  miss  this 
conception  and  service  almost  wholly;  but  to  re- 
gard it  first  as  the  product  of  a  deep,  strong,  active 
life,  lived  by  a  certain  people  under  definite  cir- 
cumstances in  the  distant  past,  is  to  make  that 
life  and  that  past  very  real;  and  then  we  are 
ready,  as  we  cannot  otherwise  be,  to  connect  the 
present  and  ourselves  with  those  earlier  struggles 
of  mankind  toward  God  and  goodness,  and  to 
read  our  own  aspirations  and  conflicts  in  the 
light  of  a  vast,  spiritual  process  of  disciplinary 
development.  Thus  to  see  each  individual  life 
in  its  large  relations,  perceiving  how  the  Divine 
Order  runs  and  works  through  all  generations, 
is  to  derive  one  of  the  richest  helps  to  faith  and 
consecration  which  any  religious  ministry  can 
afford.  In  the  new  sense  of  history  which  the 
historical  and  literary  study  of  the  Bible  is  quick- 
ening, we  shall  experience  not  only  an  increase 
of  knowledge,  but  also  an  enlargement  of  view, 
a  clarification  of  insight,  and  a  deepening  of 
reverence,  gratitude  and  trust,  issuing  in  a  fresh 
devotion  and  patience. 

So  long  as  our  religion  continues  to  look  to 
history  for  a  considerable  measure  of  its  authen- 
tication, it  must  be  careful  to  look  to  the  truth  of 
history.  Christianity  is,  indeed,  an  historical  re- 
ligion, and  Judaism  is  doubly  so,  in  the  sense  that 
both  have  had  a  birth  and  a  career  in  the  past ;  and 


NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE      243 

if  their  claims  are  to  be  urged  in  the  present,  as 
binding  upon  us,  they  must  submit  themselves  to 
a  rigid  examination  of  their  historical  anteced- 
ents, course,  and  influence.  Therefore  the  Bible, 
as  the  literary  product  of  those  two  forms  of  re- 
ligious development,  must  be  more  and  more 
scrutinizingly  studied  in  connection  with  the  his- 
tory comprised  in  it.  That  history  will  become 
clearer  and  clearer,  and  in  turn  will  make  the 
pages  of  the  Bible  more  and  more  luminous ;  and 
both  in  turn  will  help  the  individual  soul  of  today 
to  interpret  its  own  spiritual  experiences,  and  so 
to  enter  into  a  new  and  larger  understanding  of 
the  works  and  ways  of  God  in  human  life — 
"a  householder  that  bringeth  forth  out  of  his 
treasure  things  new  and  old." 

3.  There  is  a  new  appreciation  of  the  Bible  as 
a  revelation  of  life.  It  discloses  a  certain  type  of 
life  in  so  marked  a  degree  as  almost  to  make  it 
seem  unique  in  kind.  We  call  it  spiritual  life, 
and,  indeed,  can  give  it  no  better  name;  for  it  is 
the  life  of  the  spirit,  a  spirit  of  moral  and  reli- 
gious earnestness  which  gave  its  possessors  a  dis- 
tinctive character.  Other  peoples  have  been  more 
brilliant  intellectually  and  aesthetically ;  but  among 
no  people  has  the  moral  sense  been  so  keen,  or  the 
religious  apprehension  so  clear  and  strong,  as 
among  the  Hebrews.    As  Sabatier  truly  says : 

When  one  is  in  the  state  of  mind  which  may  properly 
be  called  moral  piety,  it  is  impossible  not  to  be  struck  by 


244      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

the  nature  and  power  of  that  spirit  of  holiness  which 
created  the  history  of  Israel,  the  life  and  work  of  Christ, 
and  in  them  reveals  itself.  There,  amid  the  shadows  and 
the  sorrows  of  the  times  and  the  race,  is  a  succession 
of  men  of  God,  each  the  spiritual  father  of  the  other, 
and  all  together  creating  in  the  bosom  of  humanity  the 
high  religion  of  the  spirit.  Their  history  is  the  history 
of  God  himself  taking  possession  of  the  human  soul,  be- 
coming the  inmate  of  the  human  consciousness  to  such 
an  extent  as  in  the  consciousness  of  Christ  to  be  identi- 
fied with  it.7 

This  exalted  spiritual  life,  pure  and  vigorous, 
which  we  discern  as  we  read  and  ponder  the 
Scriptures,  becomes  to  us  a  revelation  of  the  capa- 
bilities of  the  human  soul.  We  readily  under- 
stand that  there  is  one  kind  of  life  among  the 
beasts  of  the  field  and  the  fowls  of  the  air ;  another 
kind  among  human  beings  who  yet  stand  upon 
the  physical  plane  merely,  or  but  little  above  it; 
and  still  another  kind  among  those  races  or  indi- 
viduals that  have  awakened  to  intellectual  con- 
sciousness, and  have  attained  to  some  measure  of 
knowledge  and  culture;  but  here,  above  even  this 
psychical  plane,  we  recognize  still  another  kind  of 
life,  which  we  call  spiritual,  or  (to  use  a  New  Tes- 
tament word)  pneumatical.  It  is  the  life  of 
human  souls  that  have  been  awakened  to  moral 
and  religious  consciousness,  and  have  attained  to 
some  clear,  trustworthy  apprehensions,  convic- 
tions, judgments,  and  determinations  respecting 
the  divine  order  of  the  world.    It  is  essentially  a 

7  Religions  of  Authority,   p.   241. 


NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE       245 

type  of  human  experience,  and  its  expression  in 
the  literature  of  the  Bible  opens  a  vista  of  progress 
for  other  souls  that  have  not  yet  tasted  the  joy  of 
this  higher,  finer,  holier  development.  It  is  as 
natural  as  the  experience,  the  attainment,  and  the 
rapture  of  a  great  musician;  but  its  blessings  are 
available  to  a  larger  number  of  people,  for  all  are 
spiritual  beings,  and  all  may  be  brought  to  some 
moral  and  religious  awakenment.  The  spiritual 
life  manifested  in  the  Bible  becomes  both  ex- 
ample and  inspiration  for  all  mankind.  That 
which  was  realized  in  so  large  a  degree  by  the  an- 
cient people  of  Israel,  and  especially  by  Jesus 
Christ  and  his  noblest  disciples,  is  realized  in  some 
degree  by  us,  and  may  be  more  fully  realized  by 
all  men  when  the  great,  spiritual  purposes  and 
plans  of  the  Divine  Providence  shall  be  wrought 
out  to  a  more  complete  fulfilment.  And  it  thus 
appears  to  be  precisely  our  greatest  privilege  and 
duty  now  to  enter  upon  this  glorious  heritage  and 
birthright,  to  "awake  out  of  sleep,"  to  rise  into  a 
full  realization  of  the  blessedness  of  that  spiritual 
life  which  the  Bible  so  forcibly  brings  to  our 
notice,  and  of  which  the  Christianity  of  Christ  is 
the  finest  flower  and  fruit. 

Because  the  Bible  exhibits,  more  perfectly  than 
any  other  literature,  this  noblest  type  of  life,  it 
will  be  increasingly  appreciated  as  our  civilization 
becomes  more  truly  spiritualized.  The  "letter" 
of  the  Bible,  indeed,  may  not  be  rigidly  accepted 


246       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

— it  certainly  will  not  be,  in  a  multitude  of  in- 
stances; but  the  "spirit"  and  power  of  the  Bible 
will  receive  a  greater  honor  than  hitherto,  and 
will  sway  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men  more  ef- 
fectually, as  our  race  moves  slowly  upward  nearer 
to  the  lofty  level  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Here,  then,  we  find  a  threefold  appreciation 
of  the  Bible  which  promises,  not  only  to  be  per- 
manent, but  to  increase ;  namely,  as  a  great  liter- 
ature, profound  and  powerful,  of  perennial  inter- 
est and  vitality;  as  the  product  and  record  of  a 
wonderful  spiritual  history,  whose  influence  is 
rapidly  becoming  world-wide ;  and,  as  a  revelation 
of  an  exalted  and  sublime  type  of  human  life, 
prophetic  of  a  blessed  moral  and  religious  develop- 
ment which  is  at  least  possible  to  the  whole  family 
of  mankind. 

As  the  old  appreciation  of  the  Bible  passes 
away,  because  of  the  breaking  down  of  some  of 
the  theoretical  conceptions  which  it  implied,  we 
may  reasonably  expect  this  new  appreciation  to 
take  its  place  in  the  thought  and  affection  of  en- 
lightened people,  and  gradually  to  win  a  new 
allegiance  and  a  new  dominion  in  the  spiritual  life 
of  coming  generations. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE   BIBLE  AND   SPIRITUAL   PROGRESS 

The  new  appreciation  of  the  Bible,  as  litera- 
ture, as  history,  and  as  a  revelation  of  life,  may  be 
profitably  supplemented  by  a  fresh  consideration 
of  its  relation  to  human  progress.  The  subject  is 
a  large  one,  presenting  many  aspects,  and  opening 
the  way  for  extravagant  statements;  yet  it  ought 
to  be  possible  to  arrive  at  an  intelligent,  discrimi- 
nating, and  approximately  just  judgment.  Such, 
at  least,  should  be  our  aim ;  and  if  we  hold  fast  to 
this  purpose,  we  shall  not  be  likely  to  wander  far 
from  the  truth. 

The  career  of  the  Bible  covers  roundly  three 
thousand  years,  including  the  earlier  stages  of  the 
distinct  national  life  out  of  which  it  arose.  How 
large  a  portion  is  this  of  the  entire  known  history 
of  the  world  ?  Not  half  of  it,  so  far  as  time  alone 
is  concerned ;  for  the  civilization  of  Chaldea  dates 
back  nearly  twice  as  far — at  least  to  3700  b.  c. ; 
while  that  of  Egypt  has  an  antiquity  much  greater 
still,  being  traceable  to  the  remote  distance  of 
6000  b.  c.  Besides,  the  Bible  has  been  limited  in 
its  direct  ministry  to  a  comparatively  small  part 
of  the  human  family.  Of  course  it  was  confined 
to  the  Israelites  at  first,  until  the  advent  of  Chris- 
tianity; and  even  of  those  only  a  fragment  really 
knew  anything  about  it — that  is,  about  the  Old 

2A.1 


248      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Testament,  for  the  New  Testament  was  not  yet 
produced ;  because,  of  the  multitudes  who  had  been 
carried  away  into  the  Babylonian  Captivity,  not 
more  than  about  40,000  returned  to  Palestine, 
bringing  the  substance  of  "The  Law"  and  "The 
Prophets"  with  them,1  to  which  were  subsequently 
and  slowly  added  the  other  writings  which  com- 
plete the  Hebrew  Scriptures.  Then  as  the  dis- 
persed Jews,  and  later  the  Christian  missionaries, 
bore  some  parts  or  some  knowledge  of  the  Bible 
abroad,  it  was  only  into  the  Grseco-Roman  world 
that  they  went  with  such  a  possession :  the  teeming 
millions  of  Asia  lay  mainly  beyond  their  reach, 
the  savages  of  Africa  were  unknown,  and  nobody 
had  ever  dreamed  of  the  western  hemisphere 
which  we  now  inhabit,  or  of  the  wild  peoples  who 
have  been  since  discovered  in  the  isles  of  the  sea 
and  at  the  ends  of  the  earth.  It  was  not  until  quite 
late  in  the  modern  era — principally  within  the 
nineteenth  century — that  the  Bible  began  to  find 
its  way  into  all  lands  and  races  and  tongues.  Yet 
even  now  scarcely  more  than  400,000,000  of  the 
1,400,000,000  of  the  population  of  the  globe- 
less  than  one-third — can  be  claimed  as  Jews  and 
Christians,  using  our  Scriptures. 

But  the  nations  reached  by  the  Bible  in  this 
period  of  three  thousand  years  have  been  precisely 
those  that  have  had  most  to  do  with  the  develop- 

1  Yet  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  remained  also  with  the  non- 
returning,  and  a  close  correspondence  was  kept  up  with  Babylon, 
e.  g.,  by  Nehemiah. 


BIBLE  AND  SPIRITUAL  PROGRESS         249 

ment  of  a  progressive  civilization.  First  it 
touched  the  Greeks,  modifying  and  being  modified 
by  the  subtle,  brilliant,  many-sided  genius  of  that 
wonderful  race ;  with  the  result  of  giving  Europe 
a  Hellenized  Judaism  as  the  body  of  Christianity, 
with  the  teaching  of  Jesus  as  its  soul.  Next  it  en- 
gaged the  Romans,  the  most  orderly,  practical, 
conquering,  governing  people  known  in  history; 
and  they  built  its  precepts  and  ideas,  with  some- 
what of  its  holy  spirit,  into  the  new  institutions  of 
the  European  nations  that  grew  up  to  take  the 
place  of  the  decaying  Empire.  Then  it  came  into 
contact  with  the  Teutonic  race,  and  may  be  said 
to  have  exerted  its  influence  upon  the  fresh,  free, 
and  vigorous  spirit  of  this  noble  stock  more 
strongly  than  upon  any  other  in  its  whole  career. 

Now  when  we  reflect  that  the  Greeks,  Romans, 
and  Teutons  have  virtually  made  Europe  as  we 
know  it,  excluding  the  Slavic  portions,  and  have 
thus  produced  our  western  civilization,  as  we  see 
it  in  France,  Germany,  Scandinavia,  Great  Brit- 
ain, and  America,  and  to  a  large  extent  also  in 
Austria,  Italy,  and  Spain;  and  when  we  further 
reflect  that  the  various  branches  of  the  Teutonic 
race  are  still  expanding  and  seem  likely  to  play 
an  enormous  role  in  the  affairs  of  the  world  in  the 
immediate  future,  we  can  see  how  closely  the 
Bible  has  been  connected  with  whatever  progress 
has  actually  taken  place;  and  we  thus  obtain  a 
broad  basis  upon  which  to  estimate  the  manner  in 


250      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

which  the  Bible  has  helped  to  effect  or  modify 
such  progress. 

That  spiritual  progress  has  actually  occurred 
during  the  last  two  or  three  thousand  years,  can 
not  be  seriously  questioned.  One  does  not  need 
to  indulge  in  overpraise  of  our  own  time,  or  to 
be  blind  to  existing  evils,  in  order  to  maintain 
that  the  modern  world  is  far  in  advance  of  the 
ancient  world  in  most  of  those  respects  which  re- 
late to  the  higher  interests  of  mankind.  While 
art  and  philosophy  and  a  certain  buoyant  joyous- 
ness  reached  a  degree  of  perfection  in  the  golden 
age  of  Greece  which  the  present  age  of  Europe 
and  America  does  not  witness,  we  remember 
that  those  were  blessings  for  the  few  rather  than 
for  the  many.  The  prevalence  of  slavery  pre- 
cluded any  better  state  of  things;  for  in  both 
Greece  and  Rome  in  their  palmiest  days  about 
one-half  of  the  population  consisted  of  slaves; 
and  although  many  of  these  were  highly  educated, 
often  being  teachers,  artists,  architects,  physicians, 
and  even  merchants  and  bankers,  the  profits  of 
whose  labors  accrued  to  their  masters,  yet  the 
existence  of  such  a  fundamental  institution  on  so 
vast  a  scale  prevented  the  uplift  of  society  as  a 
whole.  The  very  fact  that  at  length  this  condition 
has  been  left  far  behind  is  itself  one  of  the  clearest 
and  most  substantial  proofs  of  the  great  improve- 
ment which  has  taken  place  during  the  Christian 
era. 


BIBLE  AND  SPIRITUAL  PROGRESS        251 

To  describe  this  improvement  in  its  many- 
phases  would  be  to  trace  the  history  of  Christian 
civilization,  which  is  impossible  here.  It  is  not 
difficult,  however,  to  indicate  its  general  character, 
its  main  aspects,  and  some  of  the  influences  con- 
tributing to  its  production,  even  within  the  com- 
pass of  a  few  pages. 

1.  Perhaps  the  most  significant  feature  of  the 
spiritual  progress  which  has  been  accomplished 
since  the  days  of  Mesopotamian  supremacy  has 
been  the  slowly  growing  appreciation  of  human 
nature — the  rise  in  value  of  the  individual  man.2 
A  new  sense  of  the  sacredness  of  human  life,  a 
higher  estimate  of  the  capacity  of  the  human  soul 
generically,  a  more  sublime  conception  of  human 
destiny,  and  a  wider,  more  real  sentiment  of 
human  brotherhood  have  crept  into  the  conscious- 
ness of  millions  of  people,  making  the  modern 
world  vastly  different  from  the  ancient,  and  vastly 
nobler  and  brighter  for  the  average  man.  While 
the  various  activities  of  the  human  mind,  the 
growth  of  knowledge,  the  conquest  of  material 
nature,  the  enlarging  universe,  have  all  helped  to 
beget  this  increasing  sense  of  dignity,  this  en- 
hancement of  human  values,  it  is  certain  that  an- 
other powerful  factor  has  lain  in  the  teaching  of 
the  Bible.  The  passing  of  polytheism  and  the  es- 
tablishment of  monotheism,  with  its  ideas  of  an 

■  See  the  chapter  on  "The  Spiritual  Element  in  Social  Ser- 
rice"    in   the   author's    The   Spiritual   Outlook    (1902). 


252      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

almighty  spiritual  Deity,  Maker  and  Ruler  of  the 
universe,  Father  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh,  Gov- 
ernor among  the  nations,  Judge  of  all  the  earth, 
holding  moral  relations  with  mankind,  righteous 
in  all  his  dealings,  respecting  no  man's  person  or 
station,  yet  infinite  in  mercy,  and  loving  every  soul 
with  an  everlasting  love — this  has  brought  the 
human  race,  and  every  member  of  it  who  has 
learned  the  lesson,  into  a  position  of  honor  and 
unity  under  a  Divine  Government  which  has  en- 
nobled and  sanctified  life  and  every  interest  as 
nothing  else  conceivable  could  have  done ;  and  all 
this  has  come  directly  from  the  Hebrew  and 
Christian  Scriptures.  They  are  full  of  precisely 
these  conceptions,  and  wherever  they  have  gone 
they  have  operated,  even  through  imperfect  and 
often  obstructive  agencies,  to  educate  the  children 
of  men  to  this  exalted  thought  of  their  place  in  the 
scale  of  being.  With  our  present  knowledge  of 
history,  it  is  impossible  to  imagine  what  other 
influence  could  have  effected  such  a  result. 

2.  Along  with  this  fundamental  element,  and 
partly  in  consequence  of  it,  there  has  grown  up  in 
our  developing  civilization,  during  the  extensive 
period  referred  to,  a  new  feeling  of  respect,  sym- 
pathy, and  solicitude  for  man  as  the  child  of  God. 
Nothing  is  more  foreign  to  our  modern  ways  of 
thinking,  or  seems  more  pitiful,  than  the  almost 
universal  contempt  which  prevailed  in  the  ancient 
world  for  aliens  or  inferiors.     But  when  people 


BIBLE  AND  SPIRITUAL  PROGRESS         253 

began  to  think  of  all  men  as  objects  of  the  divine 
love,  as  having  some  standing  thus  in  the  court 
of  the  Most  High,  they  gradually  learned  the  dif- 
ficult lesson  of  sympathy.  This  conception  and 
this  lesson,  inculcated  even  in  the  Old  Testament 
more  fully  than  was  at  first  understood,  were 
greatly  re-inforced  by  the  example,  spirit,  and  sac- 
rifice of  Christ.  "What  God  hath  cleansed,  that 
call  not  thou  common,"3  said  the  voice  to  Peter 
in  the  vision ;  and  it  led  him  to  exclaim :  "Of  a 
truth  I  perceive  that  God  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons: but  in  every  nation  he  that  feareth  him, 
and  worketh  righteousness,  is  accepted  with 
him."* 

So  it  was  everywhere  in  some  degree :  a  recog- 
nition of  the  great  truth  that  God  Almighty  had 
loved  the  children  of  men,  even  the  lowliest  and 
the  wickedest,  sufficiently  to  provide  for  their 
eternal  salvation,  forbade  the  proud  any  longer  to 
despise  the  humble,  or  the  powerful  to  oppress 
the  weak.  Jew  and  gentile,  bond  and  free,  male 
and  female  came  thus  to  stand  upon  a  level  in  a 
new  and  very  real  way;  and  none  was  permitted 
to  destroy,  for  any  self-gratification,  a  brother  for 
whom  Christ  had  died.8  Forbearance,  forgive- 
ness, charity,  respect,  sympathy,  solicitude,  broth- 
erly kindness,  mutual  helpfulness,  together  with 

•Acts  x.   15. 
*  Acts  x.  34,  35. 
6  Rom.  xiv.   15. 


254      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

an  earnest  aspiration  toward  all  goodness — these 
were  the  traits  and  practices  everywhere  enjoined 
among  the  early  Christians,  as  the  letters  of  the 
New  Testament  abundantly  witness;  and  the  es- 
sential spirit  of  all  this  teaching  was  in  keeping 
with  the  pro  founder  meaning  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment revelation  of  the  righteousness,  mercy,  and 
loving-kindness  of  God.  Such  counsels,  appeals, 
and  influences,  overflowing  at  length  the  bounds 
of  race  and  country,  and  spreading  gradually 
throughout  the  Grseco-Roman  world,  bore  a  new 
message  of  both  divine  and  human  love,  yielding 
new  hope,  to  millions  weary  with  sin  and  suffer- 
ing and  the  empty  faiths  and  philosophies  of  the 
time;  and  so,  little  by  little,  a  new  spirit  of  justice 
and  tenderness  began  to  make  itself  felt  at  the 
heart  of  pagan  civilization,  like  the  sunshine  in 
spring  in  our  northern  clime. 

3.  Thence  arose  the  philanthropies  of  Chris- 
tendom, whose  name  is  legion,  and  whose  work, 
in  spite  of  many  faults,  has  been  the  crowning 
glory  of  the  passing  centuries.  As  one  reads  a 
book  like  Charles  Loring  Brace's  Gesta  Christi; 
A  History  of  Humane  Progress  under  Christian- 
ity* telling  how  some  of  the  hoary  evils  of 
paganism — such  as  paternal  tyranny,  the  subjec- 
tion of  womanhood,  licentiousness,  the  exposure 
of  children,  slavery,  war,  and  the  unjust  distri- 
bution of  property — were  assailed,  checked,  and 

•  New  York:  A.  C.  Armstrong,    1882   (4th  cd.,    1887). 


BIBLE  AND  SPIRITUAL  PROGRESS         255 

largely  overcome  by  the  influence  of  the  person 

and  teaching  of  Jesus,  operating  through  the  lives 

of  his  followers,  one  sees  not  only  how  portentous 

was  the  struggle,  but  also  how  splendid  was  the 

victory,  even  though  it  has  never  been  complete. 

Let  a  single  paragraph  indicate  the  tenor  of  the 

long  and  thrilling  story : 

The  influence  of  the  great  Friend  of  humanity  was 
especially  seen  in  the  Roman  Empire  in  checking  licen- 
tious and  cruel  sports,  so  common  and  so  demoralizing 
among  the  classic  races;  and  in  bringing  on  a  new  legis- 
lation of  beneficence  in  favor  of  the  outcast  woman,  the 
mutilated,  the  prisoner,  and  the  slave.  For  the  first 
time  the  stern  and  noble  features  of  Roman  law  took 
on  an  unwonted  expression  of  gentle  humanity  and  sweet 
compassion,  under  the  power  of  Him  who  was  the  brother 
of  the  unfortunate  and  the  sinful.  The  great  followers  of 
the  Teacher  of  Galilee  became  known  as  the  "brothers 
of  the  slave,"  and  the  Christian  religion  began  its  struggle 
of  many  centuries  with  those  greatest  of  human  evils — 
slavery  and  serfdom.  It  did  not,  indeed,  succeed  in  abol- 
ishing them;  but  the  remarkable  mitigations  of  the  sys- 
tem in  Roman  law,  and  the  constant  drift  toward  a  con- 
dition of  liberty,  and  the  increasing  emancipation  through- 
out the  Roman  Empire,  are  plainly  fruits  of  its  principles. 
All  these  and  similar  steps  of  humane  progress  are  the 
Gesta  Christi  and  the  direct  effects  of  His  personal  influ- 
ence on  the  world.7 

These  sentences  afford  merely  a  hint  of  the  vast 
humanitarian  movement  of  the  Christian  era, 
which  has  not  yet  accomplished  its  holy  mission, 
but  which,  even  so,  has  brought  incalculable  bene- 
fits to  mankind.     Through  many  instrumentali- 

T  See  op.  cit.,  p.   107. 


256      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

ties — asceticism,  monasticism,  ecclesiasticism, 
schools,  missions,  charitable  institutions  of  one 
kind  and  another — and  notwithstanding  blunders 
and  dire  consequences  often,  the  benign  spirit  of 
Christian  philanthropy  has  grappled  with  the 
actual  and  terrible  evils  of  the  world,  and  has 
slowly,  partially,  but  substantially  and  nobly  tri- 
umphed over  them,  establishing  justice  and  sym- 
pathy in  place  of  cruelty,  and  incarnating  kind- 
ness in  a  thousand  forms  of  social  helpfulness. 

4.  Another  outcome  of  the  enhanced  valuation 
of  human  nature  resulting  from  the  influence  of 
the  Bible,  and  especially  from  the  influence  of  the 
Christian  gospel,  has  been  a  slowly  growing  spirit 
of  democracy.  The  enthronement  of  Jehovah  as 
King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords,  the  one  living 
and  true  God,  the  inexorable  but  impartial  Judge 
of  all  the  earth,  the  common  Father  of  the  chil- 
dren of  men,  had  the  effect  of  putting  mankind 
upon  a  certain  spiritual  equality  before  him ;  arti- 
ficial distinctions  in  society  were  obliterated;  the 
only  distinction  that  counted  in  his  sight  was  the 
distinction  between  righteousness  and  wickedness 
— a  good  man,  though  poor  and  humble,  being  ac- 
ceptable to  him ;  while  a  wicked  man,  though  rich 
and  mighty,  was  condemned  and  rejected  by  him. 
This  ethical  teaching  of  the  Old  Testament  was 
renewed  and  intensified  in  the  New  Testament; 
and,  most  deeply  impressed  upon  the  world  by  the 
exalted  and  beautiful  character  of  Jesus  Christ, 


BIBLE  AND  SPIRITUAL  PROGRESS         257 

it  began  to  diffuse  a  new  influence  in  the  hearts 
of  men,  and  to  awaken  a  new  sense  of  equality— 
a  conception  and  feeling  of  equality  which  had 
never  before  existed.  The  slave  and  his  master 
were  alike  children  of  a  common  Father,  owning  a 
common  Savior,  and  inheriting  a  common  hope  of 
eternal  life;  therefore  they  were  really  brothers, 
and  must  live  together  in  justice,  kindness,  and 
peace.  So  they  worshiped  in  the  same  sanctuary, 
knelt  before  the  same  altar,  and  partook  the  same 
communion;  and  so  "brotherly  love"  became  the 
great,  beautiful  watchword  of  a  new  social  order, 
binding  the  world  "by  gold  chains  about  the  feet 
of  God." 

Now  nothing  short  of  such  a  sublime  spiritual 
conception  and  conviction  could  break  the  ancient 
tyranny  of  caste  and  class,  and  give  inner  hope 
and  consecration  to  the  individual  soul.  The 
power  of  the  past  was  overwhelming;  the  world 
was  held  in  the  vise  of  custom  solidified  into  law. 
The  individual  was  merely  a  unit  in  a  vast  cor- 
poration, the  State,  to  which  his  interests  were 
entirely  subordinate;  and  religion  was  largely  a 
device  for  sanctioning  the  established  order  of 
things.  Only  an  idea  which  lifted  the  individual 
above  the  world,  centering  his  main  interests  in 
a  Divine  Government  that  cared  for  his  personal 
welfare,  and  that  might  rectify  and  supersede  the 
governments  of  earth,  could  deliver  him  from  this 
matrix.     Such  was  the  task  and  service  of  the 


258       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

faith  which  lay  at  the  heart  of  the  Bible.    To  quote 
from  a  recent  writer : 

The  monotheistic  idea  of  God,  as  the  prophets  con- 
ceived it,  entailed  an  impassioned  belief  in  human  equality. 
Compare  the  Old  Testament  with  Plato.  The  sacred 
nation  in  prophetic  thought  was  in  truth  provincial.  Be- 
yond the  frontiers  of  this  one  people  the  best  things,  for 
the  most  part,  did  not  travel.  Plato  also  was  by  reason 
of  his  exaltation  of  his  own  race  provincial,  quite  as  pro- 
vincial as  the  prophets.  But  compare  them  as  their 
thought  and  plan  holds  good  over  the  territory  they  try  to 
cover.  Within  Plato's  commonwealth,  while  there  are  no 
castes  in  the  technical  sense,  yet  there  are  lines  of  separa- 
tion drawn  so  clearly  and  with  so  much  suggestion  of 
permanence,  that  we  are  led  into  a  thoroughgoing  aris- 
tocratic view  of  things.  But  in  the  prophetic  common- 
wealth all  distinctions  are  removed.  There's  one  God, 
one  good,  for  all  men.  One  capacity  for  receiving  the 
good  is  ascribed  to  them  all.  Aggressive  universalism 
inheres  in  prophetic  monotheism.  In  it  the  Fatherhood 
of  God,  the  Brotherhood  of  men,  are  implicit. 

Therefore  the  attempt  to  popularize  monotheism  was 
in  itself  a  grand  act  of  faith — faith  in  the  sovereign  value 
of  the  idea  itself,  faith  also  in  the  spiritual  capacity  of 
the  common  man.  As  plainly  as  human  thoughts  can 
express  anything,  did  this  undertaking  proclaim  an  abso- 
lute conviction  that  the  lowest  classes  were  level  to  the 
highest  knowledge,  and  that  the  constitution  of  our  com- 
mon humanity  called  for  no  mysteries  that  should  be  the 
prerogative  of  the  few.  And  so  the  success  that  crowned 
the  attempt  to  popularize  monotheism  was  one  of  the 
great  steps  taken  by  history  towards  Democracy.  For 
the  unity  of  God  draws  after  it  the  unity  of  the  race  and 
the  unity  of  society.  The  logic  of  monotheism  limps  un- 
less it  brings  up  at  last  on  the  conception  of  a  nation, 
a  church,  a  humanity,  within  whose  pale  there  are  no  dis- 
tinctions save  temporary  and  economic  ones.  The  caste 
principle  has  no  foothold  anywhere  within  it.8 

8  Professor  Henry  S.  Nash,  Genesis  of  the  Social  Conscience,  p. 

84. 


BIBLE  AND  SPIRITUAL  PROGRESS         259 

There  surely  have  been  many  influences —  of 
racial  temperament,  climate,  political  experiment, 
growing  knowledge,  invention,  and  widening  in- 
tercourse— which  have  wrought  through  the  long 
centuries  toward  the  production  of  this  fruit  of 
the  spirit,  democracy,  that  is  ripening  in  our 
time;  but  it  is  safe  to  say  that,  among  them  all, 
none  has  been  so  effectual  as  the  ethical  and  reli- 
gious faith  expressed  in  the  Bible,  rooted  and 
grounded  in  Hebrew  monotheism,  and  flowering 
most  perfectly  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus  Christ. 
The  world  is  yet  very  far  from  realizing  the  full 
blessing  of  this  precious  fruitage ;  but  it  is  slowly 
moving  forward  toward  such  a  larger  realization, 
and  nothing  so  constantly  sustains  it  in  its  patient, 
toilsome  advance  as  the  spiritual  idealism  en- 
shrined in  the  sacred  literature  of  Christendom, 
and  forever  palpitating  as  a  living  "Word  of  God" 
in  the  soul  of  every  aspiring  man. 

5.  It  remains  to  be  said  that  the  Bible  has  con- 
tributed directly  and  immensely  to  spiritual  prog- 
ress by  promoting  the  spiritualization  of  religion. 
A  study  of  the  world's  history  shows  that  religion 
has  always  been  a  powerful  reality.  Existing 
wherever  man  has  existed,  appearing  in  ages  of 
darkness  as  well  as  those  of  light,  and  express- 
ing itself  in  forms  of  superstition  and  fear  quite 
as  much  as  in  those  of  intelligence  and  love,  it 
has  been  a  constant  presence  and  a  potent  factor 
in  the  formation  of  character  and  the  development 


260      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

of  civilization.  Sometimes  it  has  been  productive 
of  ill,  and  sometimes  of  good ;  now  holding  an  in- 
dividual, a  race,  a  nation  in  the  thraldom  of  igno- 
rance and  cruelty;  and  anon  effecting  the  deliver- 
ance of  such  out  of  the  bondage  of  corruption  into 
the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God.  It 
has  claimed  the  attention  of  all  sorts  and  condi- 
tions of  people,  has  allied  itself  with  all  sorts  of 
interests,  and  has  created  or  supported  a  large 
variety  of  institutions.  Whether  for  weal  or  for 
woe,  it  has  been  a  power  which  could  never  be 
permanently  ignored;  and  today  it  is  abroad  in 
the  earth  exerting  itself  and  doing  its  work  as 
steadily  and  positively  as  the  force  of  gravity. 
It  is  no  myth,  no  product  of  a  sick  fancy,  no 
child  even  of  poesy;  but  rather  a  great,  natural 
energy,  whose  seat  is  in  the  human  soul,  but  whose 
source  is  hidden  away  in  the  depths  of  the  Infinite. 
Man  does  not  make  himself  religious,  no  church 
or  sacrament  makes  him  religious,  nor  is  he  made 
religious  by  any  miracle  save  that  greatest  and 
most  primitive  of  all  miracles,  the  miracle  of  his 
creation  as  a  spiritual  being,  the  child  of  the  liv- 
ing God.  And  because  religion  is  thus  native  to 
man,  a  spiritual  energy  or  life  that  is  governed  by 
its  own  absolute  laws,  nothing  can  entirely  sup- 
press it  or  perpetually  withstand  it ;  it  must  rise  to 
its  legitimate  place  of  dignity  and  power  in  hu- 
man development  sooner  or  later;  no  man  can  be 
forever  irreligious ;  no  skepticism,  no  worldliness, 


BIBLE  AND  SPIRITUAL  PROGRESS         261 

no  ignorance,  no  wickedness  can  eternally  alienate 
him  from  the  life  of  God;  and  no  society,  no 
civilization  can  be  permanently  immoral  and 
unspiritual. 

Seeing  thus  the  vast  importance  of  religion  as 
a  vital  force  in  our  human  world,  we  see  at  once 
that  whatever  influence  may  enlighten,  elevate, 
and  purify  religion  must  greatly  benefit  mankind. 
A  debased  religion  means  a  degraded  manhood; 
an  exalted  religion  means  an  ennobled  manhood. 
Now  the  ideas,  principles,  and  spirit  which  per- 
vade the  Bible  tend  most  strongly  to  produce  a 
pure  and  undefined  type  of  religion.  To  be  sure, 
there  are,  in  the  earlier  portions  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment especially,  many  crude,  imperfect,  essentially 
erroneous  conceptions,  which  are  the  remains  of 
a  prevalent  polytheism  and  a  gross  anthropomor- 
phism; and  even  in  the  later  portions  there  are 
endless  rules  and  regulations  for  an  elaborate  cere- 
monialism which  to  us  seem  to  militate  against 
vital  inspiration  and  growth.  But,  along  with 
these  shortcomings,  there  are  the  sublime  thoughts 
about  the  one  only  and  true  God,  Jehovah,  about 
his  righteousness  and  grace,  about  his  inexorable 
government  of  the  children  of  men,  in  justice  and 
yet  in  mercy,  which  have  in  all  generations  helped 
powerfully  to  awaken  a  reverent  faith  and  an 
ethical  devotion ;  and  the  passion  of  this  faith  and 
devotion,  flaming  out  in  the  utterances  of  the 
prophets,  and  singing  or  weeping  in  the  piety  of 


262       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

the  psalmists,  has  carried  the  hearts  of  unnum- 
bered myriads  of  human  beings  into  a  seriousness 
and  earnestness  of  feeling  and  endeavor  which 
have  glorified  life  with  a  new  consecration.  Then 
in  the  New  Testament  we  find  the  defects  of  the 
older  religious  life  largely  outgrown ;  particularly 
in  the  teaching  and  character  of  Jesus  we  perceive 
the  purest  spirituality  ever  witnessed  among  men 
— intelligent,  sane,  balanced,  sincere,  chaste  as 
the  sunshine,  ardent  as  love,  stronger  than  death ! 
This  beautiful  and  mighty  religion  permeates  all 
the  writings  in  the  New  Testament,  in  spite  of  the 
limitations  which  characterized  their  several  au- 
thors and  have  left  their  impress  of  error  or  weak- 
ness upon  its  pages.  It  glows  like  a  heavenly 
light  in  the  soul  of  every  disciple,  evangelist,  or 
apostle  who  has  been  really  touched  by  the  spirit 
of  his  Master;  and  the  countless  hosts  who,  since 
the  first  days,  have  read  this  priceless  literature 
have  been  awakened  to  a  vision  of  spiritual  life 
and  character,  of  moral  purity  and  loving  service, 
of  inner  peace  and  joy  which  have  been  to  them 
the  one  transcendent  meaning  and  blessedness  of 
their  existence.  Religion  has  been  thus  lifted  up, 
purified,  sanctified,  and  made  to  be  a  radiant  ex- 
perience of  power  in  the  heart, — an  experience  of 
faith,  hope,  and  love — issuing  in  an  outward  life 
of  benevolent  activities.  Millions  of  men  and 
women,  sharing  in  some  degree  such  a  spiritual 
experience,  have  made  the  world  brighter  and 


BIBLE  AND  SPIRITUAL  PROGRESS        263 

warmer  than  it  could  possibly  have  been  other- 
wise. Slowly  the  religion  of  the  masses  has  be- 
come more  vital,  ethical,  practical,  hopeful;  fear 
and  gloom  are  at  length  beginning  to  vanish;  a 
healthful,  happy,  beautiful  piety  is  beginning  to 
spring  up;  and  all  these  fair  results  may  be  as 
surely  attributed  in  part  to  the  influence  of  the 
Bible,  more  especially  the  influence  of  the  Chris- 
tian portion  of  it,  as  the  flowers  that  adorn  the 
fields  may  be  attributed  largely  to  the  sunshine. 

The  transformation  of  popular  ideals  and  hab- 
its is  an  exceedingly  slow  process.  "A  little  leaven 
leaveneth  the  whole  lump,"  indeed,  but  it  neces- 
sarily does  its  work  very  gradually.  It  was  com- 
paratively easy  to  establish  the  Jewish  church 
and  the  Christian  Church  as  outward  institutions ; 
it  was  a  vastly  more  difficult  task  to  impregnate 
human  society  with  the  true  spirit  of  Judaism 
and  Christianity  to  such  an  extent  as  to  quicken 
a  new  life  in  the  heart  of  the  individual,  and  to 
reform  the  terrible  social  abuses  under  which  the 
world  was  groaning  and  travailing  in  pain.  But 
the  Bible  has  wrought  patiently  at  this  gigantic 
task;  untold  millions  who  have  been  reached  by 
its  influence  during  the  passing  centuries  have  not 
been  touched  wholly  in  vain;  minds  have  been 
divinely  enlightened,  hearts  have  been  softened, 
miseries  have  been  alleviated ;  and,  little  by  little; 
civilization  has  taken  on  a  mildness,  a  sacredness, 


264      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

and  a  benignance  which  would  have  been  scarcely 
conceivable  but  for  the  vital  inspiration  of  this 
wonderful  literature.  It  has  accomplished  what 
no  political  or  ecclesiastical  government  could  ever 
accomplish — it  has  molded  "the  thoughts  of  the 
hearts"  of  mankind ;  and  from  this  inmost  center 
working  outward,  in  the  individual  and  in  society, 
it  has  exerted  a  regenerative  influence  which  has 
begun  the  establishment  of  a  new  dominion 
among  men — the  kingdom  of  Heaven  on  earth. 
The  deeper  history  of  every  period  is  not  the 
history  of  wars  and  of  empires,  but  rather  the 
history  of  the  inner,  spiritual  life  of  the  race. 
As  we  have  here  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  manner 
in  which  the  Bible  has  at  least  partially  conquered 
the  paganism  of  antiquity  and  the  barbarianism  of 
the  Middle  Age;  and  as  we  see  how  at  length,  in 
our  own  day,  it  is  finding  its  way  into  all  lan- 
guages, while  it  is  better  understood  than  ever 
before,  and  while  popular  education  is  spreading 
everywhere,  so  that  it  may  be  read  and  enjoyed 
by  the  waiting  millions,  we  are  encouraged  to  ex- 
pect in  the  future  a  yet  more  marvelous  demon- 
stration than  even  the  past  has  afforded  of  the 
great  value  of  the  Bible  in  relation  to  spiritual 
progress. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  SERVICE  OF  THE  BIBLE  TO  OUR 
OWN  TIME 

Having  glanced  at  the  role  which  the  Bible  has 
played  in  the  spiritual  progress  of  the  past,  we 
need  next  to  consider  what  service  it  may  render 
to  our  own  age.  For  we  can  by  no  means  ignore 
the  significant  change  that  is  taking  place  in  the 
thought  of  men  respecting  the  nature  of  the  Sa- 
cred Volume ;  and  if  they  are  still  to  retain  a  vital 
interest  in  it,  so  as  to  read  it  with  diligence  and 
to  derive  substantial  help  from  it,  they  must  be 
enabled  to  see  why  they  should  thus  submit  them- 
selves to  its  influence.  One  may,  indeed,  rever- 
ence and  love  it  for  the  sake  of  what  it  has  been  to 
previous  generations,  whose  culture  he  has  in  a 
measure  inherited ;  but  if  one  is  to  continue  using 
it  for  himself,  in  such  a  way  as  to  let  it  have  real 
power  over  his  life,  and  if  he  is  to  educate  his 
children  in  its  ideas  and  spirit,  he  must  honor  it 
for  the  sake  of  what  it  is  now  by  understanding 
its  present  valid  claims  upon  his  attention.  Ac- 
cordingly an  important  specific  task,  urgently 
needing  to  be  well  performed,  is  to  point  out  the 
positive  value  of  the  Bible,  under  the  new  general 
conception  of  its  character,  to  the  welfare  of  the 
individual  and  the  progress  of  society  in  our  own 
time,  as  we  look  forward  along  the  various  lines 
of  an  expanding  civilization. 
265 


266      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Two  or  three  preliminary  remarks  deserve 
attention. 

i.  The  fact  that  the  Bible  has  exerted  a  potent 
influence  in  the  past  warrants  the  assumption  that 
it  possesses  some  great,  enduring  merit  which  will 
make  it  influential  in  the  future.  Experience  is 
a  safe  guide  here,  as  in  other  matters  of  moment. 
And  assuredly  experience  abundantly  proves  the 
power  of  the  Bible  to  quicken,  inspire,  enlighten, 
invigorate,  comfort,  moralize,  and  sanctify  man- 
kind to  a  degree  matched  by  no  other  literature 
in  the  world.  And  in  its  career  during  the  last 
two  thousand  years  it  has  been  tested  among  all 
sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  not  less  the  cultivated 
classes  than  the  barbarian  and  the  savage;  it  has 
traversed  all  areas  of  human  life,  from  the  most 
corrupt  to  the  most  saintly ;  and  it  has  been  trans- 
lated into  hundreds  of  languages  and  dialects, 
among  all  nations  and  tribes  in  all  parts  of  the 
earth.  Certainly  the  honor  thus  accorded  it  and 
the  sway  thus  maintained  by  it  justify  us  in  be- 
lieving that  it  has  some  unusual  and  permanent 
value  that  must  render  it  vastly  helpful  to  our 
own  and  coming  generations,  whatever  changes 
of  view  it  may  undergo. 

2.  Careful  reflection  will  show  that  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Bible  in  the  past  has  not  been  mainly 
due  to  any  particular  theory  which  has  been  held 
regarding  its  origin.  In  other  words,  its  power 
has  not  grown  out  of  the  fact  that  people  have 


SERVICE  OF  THE  BIBLE  267 

called  it  "the  Word  of  God ;"  but  rather  they  have 
called  it  "the  Word  of  God"  because  it  has  had 
such  power  over  their  souls.  They  have  felt  that 
it  brought  to  them  a  divine  message,  making  di- 
vine truth  clear  to  them  which  was  unknown  or 
dimly  guessed  before;  and  so  they  have  recog- 
nized its  divine  nature,  and  have  claimed  it  as  a 
divine  revelation.  But,  all  the  while,  it  was  not 
the  theory  that  was  the  source  of  its  power,  but 
rather  it  was  its  power  which  gave  rise  to  the 
theory.  Therefore  we  should  not  expect  a  change 
in  the  general  theory  by  which  the  origin  of  the 
Bible  is  explained  to  weaken  its  moral  and  reli- 
gious influence  in  the  lives  of  those  who  study  it; 
on  the  contrary,  such  a  change  as  is  now  occur- 
ring is  likely,  in  due  time,  to  increase  that  influ- 
ence, simply  because  a  larger  intelligence,  when 
valid,  leads  to  a  truer  and  fuller  appreciation. 

3.  An  increased  knowledge  of  the  Bible  has 
nearly  always  been  followed  by  a  widespread  spir- 
itual quickening,  and  it  is  reasonable  to  believe 
that  such  will  be  the  case  now.  In  the  days  of 
Josiah,  King  of  Judah,  when  the  book  of  Deuter- 
onomy was  brought  out  and  read  to  the  people 
it  made  a  profound  impression  and  produced  a 
revolution  in  their  religious  customs  and  moral 
conduct.  When  St.  Jerome,  in  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, translated  the  Scriptures  into  the  Latin,  his 
work,  although  at  first  opposed,  became  in  time 
the  great  literary  medium  by  which  the  Roman 


268      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Church  built  itself  up  and  transmitted  to  later 
times,  with  less  perversion  than  would  otherwise 
have  occurred,  the  precious  religious  story  in- 
trusted to  her  keeping.  When  Erasmus,  in  the 
early  years  of  the  sixteenth  century,  published  his 
edition  of  the  Greek  text  of  the  New  Testament, 
with  an  improved  Latin  translation  and  comments, 
it  ran  over  Europe  like  wildfire,  and  aroused  the 
people  to  an  astonished  sense  of  the  richness  of 
their  Christian  inheritance,  from  which  they  had 
been  largely  shut  out.  When,  upon  the  heels  of 
this  enterprise,  came  Luther's  noble  rendering  of 
the  Bible  into  his  native  German  tongue,  the  peo- 
ple devoured  it  with  eagerness,  and  found  it  vir- 
tually a  new  revelation  of  divine  truth;  and  it 
quickly  became  the  bulwark  of  the  Reformation. 
Yet  again,  when  the  first  English  versions  were 
made,  a  similar  hunger  awaited  them,  and  a  sim- 
ilar popular  effect  was  produced  by  them;  and, 
indeed,  everywhere  "the  open  Bible"  became  the 
watchword  of  Protestantism,  and  has  kept  Prot- 
estantism alive  and  growing  ever  since.  In  view 
of  these  facts,  not  to  cite  others,  we  may  confi- 
dently look  for  a  vast  spiritual  uplift  to  result  in 
the  near  future  from  the  new  learning  of  these 
days  respecting  the  Scriptures,  if  only  we  make 
sure  to  embrace  it,  to  use  it  aright,  and  to  educate 
the  people  at  large  with  reference  to  it. 

Now  if  we  inquire  closely  what  are  the  salient 


SERVICE  OF  THE  BIBLE  269 

excellencies  of  the  Bible  which  make  it  worthy  of 
our  most  earnest  study,  and  what  is  the  peculiar 
service  which  it  may  render  to  our  present  civil- 
ization, we  shall  find  a  number  of  important  points 
to  be  considered. 

1.  Obviously  the  first  of  these  is  the  fact  that 
it  preserves  the  threefold  story  of  the  Israelitish 
people,  the  life  and  teaching  of  Jesus,  and  the 
work  of  the  apostles  in  planting  the  Christian 
Church.  What  if  there  had  been  no  literary  rec- 
ord of  these  extremely  significant  things  ?  What 
if  we  had  been  obliged  to  depend  upon  oral  tra- 
dition, or  even  upon  the  authority  of  august  in- 
stitutions, for  the  transmission  of  such  facts  dur- 
ing two  or  three  thousand  years  ?  We  very  well 
know  what  perversions  and  corruptions  the  truth 
about  these  selfsame  matters  has  suffered  not- 
withstanding our  possession  of  this  mass  of  liter- 
ature, by  which  we  are  now  learning  to  correct 
the  vast  traditionalism  of  nineteen  centuries  or 
more;  and  it  is  beyond  all  question  that,  without 
these  priceless  literary  memorials,  we  should  have 
no  trustworthy,  account  of  that  ancient,  unique 
and  inestimable  history  wherein  the  sublimest 
spiritual  ideas  and  ideals  of  the  present  age  ori- 
ginated. The  value  that  tradition  sometimes  has 
may  be  freely  granted,  as  may  also  the  fact  that 
the  Christian  Church  antedates  the  written  New 
Testament ;  *  but  this  in  nowise  invalidates  the 

1  Consult  Professor  E.  C.  Moore's  extremely  valuable  work, 
The  New  Testament  in  the  Christian  Church,  Macmillan,  1904. 


270      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

contention  that,  with  tradition  alone,  we  should 
have  been  certain  to  wander  far  and  wide  from 
the  truth  of  history  and  from  the  great  lessons 
which  it  teaches  us.  For  instance,  what  should 
we  know,  in  a  reliable  way,  of  Greece  and  Rome 
but  for  the  Greek  and  Roman  classics  ?  At  least, 
how  meager  and  tantalizing  would  be  our  glean- 
ings from  their  archaeological  remains!  Like- 
wise, how  dim  would  be  the  light  that  shines 
through  the  intervening  ages  from  Egypt,  Baby- 
lon, and  Nineveh,  if  there  had  been  no  inscriptions 
on  their  long-buried  monuments,  now  happily  ex- 
humed, to  tell  us  their  strange  stories  and  to  re- 
veal the  thoughts  and  imaginations  of  men's 
hearts  in  those  times!  Correspondingly,  it  is  al- 
together probable  that,  without  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  the  history 
of  Israel,  the  life-work  of  Jesus,  and  the  origin  of 
the  Christian  Church  would  be  to  us  like  the  mem- 
ory of  a  great  dream  experienced  long  ago  by  our 
race,  susceptible  of  no  verification,  and  distorted 
into  every  conceivable  shape  through  the  loving 
amplifications  and  the  selfish  misconstructions  to 
which  human  nature  would  have  subjected 
them.  When  we  duly  measure  the  import  of  this 
consideration,  we  can  scarcely  be  too  thankful  for 
the  sacred  literature  that  has  preserved  for  us  the 
most  precious  spiritual  heritage  which  comes  to 
us  out  of  all  the  past. 

2.  The  Bible  reinforces  and  purifies  the  wor- 


SERVICE  OF  THE  BIBLE  271 

ship  of  mankind.  We  know  that  worship  is  one 
of  the  great  facts  of  our  human  world ;  its  univer- 
sality and  potency  are  recognized  and  understood 
by  scholars  today  more  fully  than  ever  before. 
All  nations,  from  the  most  primitive  to  the  most 
cultivated,  worship  something ;  and  nothing  more 
surely  influences  conduct  and  character  than  does 
the  outpouring  of  the  soul  in  this  sacred  act. 
And  a  wide  survey  of  the  religious  rites  and  cere- 
monies of  our  race  shows  us  that  worship  is  often 
grossly  superstitious,  sensual,  and  even  cruel,  ac- 
companied by  utterly  false  ideas,  and  imposing 
needless  burdens  of  sacrifice  and  suffering  upon 
the  people.  If  we  complain  of  priestcraft,  even  as 
it  has  been  witnessed  in  Christian  history,  let  us 
not  forget  that  it  is  well-nigh  a  universal  disease, 
from  which  no  people,  not  even  a  people  claiming 
enlightenment,  has  been  wholly  free. 

Now  the  tremendous  influence  of  the  Bible, 
wherever  it  makes  itself  felt,  not  only  increases 
worship  but  spiritualizes  it.  It  quickens  and 
strengthens  the  instinct  of  worship  which  is  na- 
tive to  the  human  soul,  because  its  writers  were 
full  of  the  spirit  of  devout  aspiration — so  full, 
indeed,  that,  in  this  far-subsequent  time  even,  we 
can  hardly  find  any  language  so  suitable  to  voice 
our  praise  and  thanks,  our  trust  and  love,  our  de- 
sire to  consecrate  ourselves  to  some  divine  pur- 
pose, as  the  strong  words  of  Holy  Writ;  and  so 
it  comes  to  pass  that  the  Bible  helps  to  rear  tern- 


272      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

pies  and  gather  pious  congregations  in  all  lands 
and  among  all  peoples  whither  it  finds  its  way. 
It  also  tends  positively  to  make  worship  a  living 
thing,  not  formal,  perfunctory,  hollow.  Perhaps 
it  does  not  entirely  succeed  in  this;  perhaps,  in- 
deed, nothing  can  wholly  keep  us  from  lifeless 
conventionalism;  for  we  easily  fall  into  conven- 
tional ways  in  nearly  everything — in  conversa- 
tion, manners,  politics,  education,  and  even  art. 
But  the  Bible  is  the  most  potent  safeguard 
against  conventionalism  in  religion,  and  the  best 
promoter  of  vitality  therein,  which  we  possess 
excepting  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God.  It  makes 
us  feel  that  we  must  worship  in  spirit  and  truth, 
because  the  Being  whom  it  presents  for  our  ado- 
ration is  Spirit;  it  exalts  all  our  conceptions  of 
the  Holy  One  that  inhabiteth  eternity ;  and  it  con- 
strains every  soul  to  come  before  him  in  humility 
and  purity,  yet  in  loving  gratitude  and  gladness. 
Thus  it  ennobles,  sanctifies,  and  glorifies  human 
worship  as  probably  no  other  single  agency  could 
do ;  and  this  altogether  by  virtue  of  the  cleansing, 
invigorating  currents  of  spiritual  influence  which 
it  pours  into  our  inevitably  religious  life,  even 
when  accepted  as  a  purely  human  literature. 

3.  Again,  the  Bible  brings  the  individual  soul 
to  itself  in  a  way  which  is  equaled  by  no  other  in- 
strumentality. The  deep  spirit  that  pervades  the 
Scriptures  finds  the  deep  places  in  each  life.  It 
seems  to  speak  directly  to  you  and  me,  to  have  a 


SERVICE  OF  THE  BIBLE  273 

message  for  every  heart.  The  Bible  magnifies 
the  importance  of  the  individual  human  soul  by 
making  every  man  feel  that  he  sustains  a  per- 
sonal relation  to  God,  that  God  deals  with  him  as 
an  accountable  being,  and  loves  him  as  a  son. 
And  can  we  measure  the  significance  of  this  single, 
sublime  truth?  Here  we  are  in  an  infinite 
universe,  of  unfathomable  mystery.  How 
strange  it  is ;  how  overwhelming  at  times !  What 
are  we  but  atoms?  No  wonder  that  men  some- 
times think  of  themselves  as  "the  small  dust  of  the 
balance,"  and  "altogether  lighter  than  vanity"! 
No  wonder,  then,  that  they  sometimes  throw 
their  lives  away!  But  the  Bible  teaches  them 
that  their  lives  are  precious  in  the  sight  of  God; 
that  all  this  mystery  is  understood  by  him;  and 
that  the  whole  material  universe  is  but  the  ves- 
ture and  theater  for  the  working-out  of  his  plans 
for  these  very  children  of  men.  Ah,  how  that 
conception  changes  everything !  How  it  helps  us 
to  find  ourselves  in  this  vast  wilderness — yea, 
even  to  find  ourselves  at  home  in  it!  "We  are 
sons  of  God;  and  if  sons,  then  heirs — heirs  of 
God,  and  joint  heirs  with  Christ!"  And  "if  God 
be  for  us,  who  can  be  against  us  ?"  Such  is  a  hint 
of  the  way  in  which  the  Bible  brings  the  human 
soul  to  itself  by  bringing  it  to  its  Heavenly 
Father,  and  thereby  saves  it  from  its  sense  of 
loneliness,  of  orphanage,  in  this  immense  and 
often-seemingly  cruel  universe. 


274      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Does  one  need  to  say  that  this  sense  of  the 
divine  solicitude  carries  with  it  somewhat  of  the 
sense  of  sin,  and  also  the  sense  of  forgiveness? 
When  the  Bible  makes  us  feel  that  we  are  chil- 
dren of  God,  it  makes  us  feel  that  we  ought  to 
act  as  such.  This  means  that  the  voice  of  con- 
science, bidding  us  do  right  and  be  true,  or  re- 
proving us  for  wrong  and  falsehood,  is  recog- 
nized as  God's  prompting  or  restraining  Spirit  in 
the  soul ;  and  thus  we  come  to  feel  ourselves  more 
keenly  responsible  for  every  word  or  deed. 
Therefore  the  whole  of  life,  all  our  personal  con- 
duct, even  the  inmost  thought  of  the  heart,  takes 
on  a  new  sacredness:  we  are  in  God's  world, 
God  sees  us,  we  cannot  get  away  from  his  loving 
yet  rebuking  Spirit;  and  so  sin  becomes  a  fright- 
ful reality,  and  righteousness  a  higher  and  a 
glorious  reality.  Thus  we  come  to  understand 
what  life  means  in  its  ethical  aspects,  and  the 
Voice  that  speaks  to  us  out  of  the  Bible  forever 
echoes  and  reinforces  the  voice  of  our  own 
hearts:  "Be  ye  holy,  for  lam  holy;,,  "this  do, 
and  thou  shalt  live." 

4.  Once  more,  the  Bible  directly  and  power- 
fully promotes  the  welfare  of  society.  By  mag- 
nifying the  importance  of  the  individual  and  mak- 
ing his  life  more  sacred,  it  improves  the  social 
units.  If  you  were  going  to  build  a  brick  wall, 
one  of  the  prime  conditions  of  your  success  in 
building  a  good  wall  would  be  that  each  brick 


SERVICE  OF  THE  BIBLE  275 

should  be  a  good  one.  No  more  can  a  satisfac- 
tory social  order  be  established  without  right- 
minded,  sound-hearted  men  and  women.  Make 
each  man  intelligent,  honest,  free,  fearless,  un- 
selfish, consecrated,  and  society  will  be  just,  pure, 
and  prosperous.  Because,  therefore,  the  Bible 
deals  primarily  with  the  individual  soul  in  such  a 
way  as  to  ennoble  it,  the  Bible  ministers  immedi- 
ately and  vitally  to  the  social  welfare.  And  we 
shall  never  get  beyond  this  method  of  trying  to 
improve  the  race,  no  matter  what  rearrangements 
of  government  and  industry  we  may  make.  Sys- 
tems of  social  philosophy  which  ignore  this  truth 
are  bound  to  go  to  pieces  very  speedily. 

And  yet  the  Bible  deals  most  effectually  with 
men  in  a  distinctively  social  capacity.  There  is 
no  literature  that  drives  home  to  people  more 
forcibly  a  sense  of  their  social  relationships  and 
responsibilities.  Notwithstanding  the  vein  of 
independence  in  the  natural  character  of  the  early 
Hebrews,  their  ethical  spirit  and  their  religious 
devotion  carried  them  into  such  unity  under  their 
theocratic  government  that  at  last  it  was  the  na- 
tion as  a  whole,  or  the  purified  remnant  saved 
from  the  disasters  of  centuries,  that  became  the 
servant  of  Jehovah;  and  he,  a  God  of  righteous- 
ness, required  of  them  the  practice  of  righteous- 
ness among  their  fellow-men  at  every  step  in 
their  long  career  of  suffering  and  discipline. 
This  mighty  moral  energy  expressed  itself  in  the 


276      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

utterances  of  the  prophets,  who  denounced  social 
wickedness  as  strongly  as  they  condemned  idol- 
atry; and  as  we  read  those  trenchant  messages 
today,  we  feel  that  the  same  holy  spirit  rebukes  all 
our  social  injustices  and  oppressions,  and  calls  us 
likewise  to  obey  the  moral  law  as  the  very  first 
condition  of  social  prosperity.  When  we  pass 
over  to  the  New  Testament  and  grasp  its  great 
doctrine  of  the  divine  Fatherhood,  and  see  its 
corollary  of  human  brotherhood,  and  listen  to  the 
Golden  Rule,  the  Parable  of  the  Good  Samari- 
tan, and  all  the  injunctions  of  charity,  justice, 
and  kindness,  we  are  impressed  still  more  deeply 
with  the  binding  force  of  our  social  obligations, 
constraining  us  to  live  in  righteousness,  peace, 
and  helpfulness  with  all  mankind.  In  fact,  it  is 
not  too  much  to  claim  that,  outside  of  the  human 
conscience  itself,  no  agency  or  influence  promotes 
social  justice,  social  order,  social  stability,  social 
freedom,  social  happiness,  and  social  progress  so 
directly,  potently  and  widely  as  the  great  teach- 
ings and  spirit  of  the  Bible.  This  may  seem 
extravagant  language,  but  wherein  should  it  be 
qualified  ? 

An  illustration  may  serve  to  fix  the  lesson  here 
taught:  The  transformation  of  pig-iron  into 
Bessemer  steel  involves  a  structural  improvement 
in  the  material  through  the  combustion  or  expul- 
sion, by  fire  and  air,  of  the  impurities  contained 
in  the  crude  ore — the  sulphur,  the  silicon,  the  ex- 


SERVICE  OF  THE  BIBLE  277 

cess  of  carbon,  etc.  So  the  transformation  of  so- 
ciety into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  involves  a 
structural  improvement  in  the  human  race;  and 
programmes  for  social  betterment,  however  in- 
genious, must  wait  upon  such  an  improvement, 
to  a  large  extent,  for  their  execution  or  success. 
Because  the  influence  of  the  Bible  tends  vitally 
to  effect  precisely  such  a  structural  improvement 
in  human  character,  the  Bible  promotes  both  in- 
dividual development  and  social  advancement 
most  surely  and  extensively.  The  world  will 
have  need  of  this  influence  long  after  many  Uto- 
pian schemes  have  fascinated,  failed,  and  disap- 
peared. 

5.  Finally,  the  various  merits  indicated  in  the 
foregoing  account  culminate  in  the  witness  which 
the  Bible  bears  to  the  spiritual  realities  of  the  uni- 
verse and  of  man's  life  in  it,  and  in  the  spirit- 
ualizing influence  which  it  thus  exerts  upon  our 
whole  civilization.  The  struggle  between  the 
flesh  and  the  spirit,  between  the  things  of  the 
body  and  the  interests  of  the  soul,  is  the  perpet- 
ual struggle  of  humanity.  Perhaps  it  was  never 
more  severe  than  at  present.  The  increase  of 
mnferial  commodities  has  stimulated  physical  de- 
sire, multiplying  or  extending  wants  beyond  the 
possibility  of  immediate  satisfaction;  and  the  re- 
sult is,  for  the  time  being  at  least,  a  widespread 
discontent,  an  oppressive  sense  of  failure  because 
wealth  is  not  accumulated  for  each,  and  a  grow- 


278      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

ing  tendency  to  believe  that  might  makes  right  in 
the  domain  of  social  and  industrial  life.  All  this 
is  aggravated  for  many  minds  by  the  supposition 
that  a  materialistic  philosophy  of  the  universe  is 
warranted  by  the  disclosures  of  modern  science 
— a  supposition  due  mainly  to  the  undigested 
knowledge  thrown  upon  contemporary  thought. 
Now  the  only  effectual  offset  to  such  an  atti- 
tude is  a  vital  and  profound  spiritual  reassurance, 
helping  men  to  feel  that  they  are  spiritual  beings, 
that  mind  is  more  than  matter,  that  character  is 
greater  than  riches,  that  morality  is  something 
vastly  higher  and  more  substantial  than  brute 
force  and  shrewdness,  and  that  human  destiny  is 
far  more  glorious  than  an  extinction  of  the  soul 
when  the  body  is  buried  in  the  earth.  This  re- 
assurance is  afforded  by  the  Bible  through  its 
awakening  influence  upon  all  the  spiritual  sus- 
ceptibilities of  human  nature;  it  arouses  con- 
science, it  quickens  aspiration,  it  inculcates  the 
sublime  conception  of  a  Divine  Government,  uni- 
versal and  eternal,  established  in  righteousness, 
inflexible  and  unwearied;  and  it  instils  a  spirit 
of  love  and  hope  that  both  ennobles  and  encour- 
ages the  mind  amid  its  hard,  baffling  circum- 
stances. Thus  it  emphasizes  character,  exalts  the 
ideal,  enjoins  the  seeking  of  excellence  rather 
than  wealth  or  even  happiness,  and  so  strength- 
ens faith  in  the  slow  but  sure  triumph  of  truth 
and  justice  as  to  inspire  an  unswerving  devotion 


SERVICE  OF  THE  BIBLE  279 

to  duty  and  an  all-conquering  patience  in  good 
works.  Superadding  to  the  motives  and  consid- 
erations prompting  worthy  conduct,  which  may 
be  drawn  from  "the  life  that  now  is,"  the  tran- 
scendent inducements  yielded  by  the  belief  in  "the 
life  that  is  to  come,"  it  deepens  the  conviction 
that  man  has  a  place  of  permanence,  of  dignity, 
and  of  ultimate  victory  in  God's  universe,  and 
thereby  sustains  him  in  all  his  conflicts  by  filling 
his  soul  with  "the  power  of  an  endless  life." 
Then  the  things  of  time  and  sense  drop  into  their 
proper  rank  of  subordination,  while  the  interests 
of  mind  and  heart  are  appraised  at  their  true 
value;  then  life  takes  on  its  due  symmetry;  a 
clear,  high  purpose  defines  all  earnest  endeavor, 
and  serenity  and  strength  come  at  last  to  reward 
the  consecration  of  a  human  spirit  made  in  the 
likeness  of  God  and  seeking  to  do  God's  will. 

If  the  Bible  imbues  individual  men  and  women 
with  this  resolute  and  holy  sense  of  their  nature 
and  their  mission,  it  must  surely  touch  all  phases 
of  their  life  and  of  the  civilization  which  they 
help  to  mold  with  a  spiritual  glory  that  is  of 
priceless  worth.  And  surely  our  present  civiliza- 
tion waits  for  just  such  a  spiritualization.  Its  in- 
dustry, its  wealth,  its  learning  and  art  must  be 
transmuted  into  character  and  joy  ere  it  can 
reach  the  full  fruition  of  the  labor  and  suffering 
which  have  produced  it.  Neither  sensualism, 
whether  refined  or  coarse,  for  the  individual,  nor 


280       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

turmoil  for  society,  can  be  the  ultimate  goal  of 
human  development;  every  noble  instinct  in  us 
cries  out  for  something  better,  and  all  good  in- 
fluences must  work  on  for  the  realization  of  that 
"something  better,"  however  tedious  may  seem 
the  process.  Among  these  good  influences  that 
which  emanates  from  the  ideas,  principles,  and 
spirit  of  the  Bible  is  one  of  the  highest  and 
strongest  and  tends  most  thoroughly  to  spiritual- 
ize all  the  interests  and  activities  of  mankind. 

There  is  something  in  the  social  atmosphere  created 
by  a  widely  diffused  acquaintance  with  the  Scriptures, 
which  moderates  the  acerbity  of  economic  strife,  shames 
the  arrogant  selfishness  of  prosperity,  and  mitigates  the 
embittered  resentments  of  want.  Far  better  than  inter- 
mittent disquisitions  from  a  supreme  ecclesiastical  author- 
ity is  the  stamping  indelibly  on  the  public  conscience  of 
that  conception  of  human  duty  which  is  expressed  in  the 
gospel.  This  great  service  to  peace  and  to  social  refor- 
mation is  rendered  by  the  Bible  in  the  familiar  usage  of 
the  people.' 

In  claiming  so  much  as  the  foregoing  pages 
assert  respecting  the  service  of  the  Bible  to  our 
own  age,  it  is  not  meant  to  imply  that  everything 
in  the  Bible  must  be  regarded  as  good  and  help- 
ful. On  the  contrary,  we  must  frankly  admit 
that  much  in  the  Scriptures  is  below  the  intellec- 
tual, moral,  and  religious  level  of  our  time.  So 
palpable  is  this  truth,  when  fairly  considered,  and 
so  harmful  may  be  a  misunderstanding  and  mis- 

*  Canon  Hensley  Henson,  Contemporary  Review,  April,  1904. 


SERVICE  OF  THE  BIBLE  281 

use  of  the  Bible,  that  Count  Leo  Tolstoy,  one  of 

the  loftiest  spirits  of  our  day,  is  led  to  exclaim: 

People  talk  of  harmful  books!  But  is  there  in  Chris- 
tendom a  book  that  has  done  more  harm  to  mankind  than 
this  terrible  book,  called  "Scripture  History  from  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments"?  And  all  the  men  and  women  of 
Christendom  have  to  pass  through  a  course  of  this  Scrip- 
ture History  during  their  childhood,  and  this  same  history 
is  also  taught  to  ignorant  adults  as  the  first  and  most 
essential  foundation  of  knowledge — as  the  one,  eternal 
truth  of  God.' 

It  is  manifest,  however,  that  the  indictment  here 
brought  is  occasioned,  not  by  the  Bible  as  a 
whole,  but  by  the  primitive  and  crude  conceptions 
contained  in  some  parts  of  it,  and  still  more  by 
the  misinterpretation  and  abuse  to  which  the 
Book  has  been  subject.  The  indictment  cannot 
stand  a  moment  against  such  a  conception  and 
use  of  the  Scriptures  as  the  present  writer  is 
earnestly  seeking  to  recommend;  indeed,  it  only 
serves  to  emphasize  the  need  of  so  educating  the 
people  as  to  enable  them  to  see  very  clearly  that 
the  Bible  is  not  all  of  one  piece,  and  that  the 
crudities  and  errors  of  early  Hebrew  thought  are 
not  to  be  elevated  into  equal  importance  with  the 
teachings  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Then 
they  will  see  that  those  crudities  and  errors — in- 
tellectual, moral,  religious — have  been  like  the 
ways  and  stays  for  the  launching  of  a  ship — 
necessary,  but  temporary;  or  they  have  served  to 

*  See  the  whole  article,  "Leo  Tolstoy's  Appeal  to  the  Clergy," 
Open  Court  (Chicago),  August,  1903. 


282       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

develop  the  great  spiritual  truths  of  the  gospel, 
even  as  the  corn-stalk  serves  to  produce  the 
ripened  ear,  being  no  longer  needed  after  the 
fruit  is  gathered. 

While  holding  fast  to  all  that  has  been  said  in 
appreciation  of  the  service  of  the  Bible  to  our 
own  age,  it  will  be  well  to  remember  that  it  is 
possible  to  depend  too  exclusively  upon  the  Bible. 
For  the  Bible,  at  best,  brings  us  a  message  out  of 
the  past.  But  we  are  living  in  the  present,  our 
interests  are  in  the  present,  and  God  is  in  the 
present.  Life  is  sacred  here  and  now ;  the  human 
soul  has  its  daily  experience  in  great,  eternal  spir- 
itual principles;  the  truth  which  ancient  prophet 
and  apostle  taught  we  ourselves  may  find  and 
prove  if  we  will.  Let  man  speak  today — man  the 
child  of  God,  capable  of  hearing  God's  voice  and 
of  knowing  God's  will;  let  the  present  power  of 
the  Divine  Spirit  be  felt,  moving  the  soul  of  man 
to  new  insights  and  new  achievements  now. 
Then  this  living  experience  will  be  the  clearest 
light  in  which  the  Bible  may  be  read,  and  the 
surest  proof  of  its  holy  lessons;  and  the  Bible  in 
turn  will  become  chiefly  a  great  instrument  for 
awakening  the  spiritual  susceptibilities  of  the 
soul,  for  attuning  the  inward  ear,  in  order  that 
it  may  hear  the  more  distinctly  the  voice  of  the 
Lord  God.  Thus  daily  life  and  the  Bible  will  act 
and  react  upon  each  other,  supplement  each 
other,  and  correct  or  confirm  each  other.     Thus 


SERVICE  OF  THE  BIBLE  283 

the  Bible  will  render  the  highest  of  all  its 
services  to  our  own  age  by  helping  to  put  each 
one  of  us  into  a  deeper  conscious  harmony  and 
co-operation  with  Divine  Providence  amid  the 
toils  and  conflicts  of  the  present  generation.  So 
shall  we  find  that 

The  present  moves  attended 
With  all  of  brave  and  excellent  and  fair 
That  made  the  old  time  splendid. 


CHAPTER  XII 

HOW  TO   READ  THE   BIBLE  IN  ITS  MODERN 
ASPECTS 

Having  obtained  a  clear  conception  of  the  rev- 
olution which  is  taking  place  in  the  thought  of 
intelligent  people  regarding  the  nature  of  the 
Bible;  and  having  tried  to  form  a  just  estimate 
of  the  great  service  which  the  Sacred  Volume  has 
rendered  to  the  interests  of  spiritual  progress  in 
the  past,  is  still  rendering  at  present,  and  is  bound 
to  render  yet  more  largely  in  the  future  if  we  be 
not  unfaithful  to  it,  we  are  now  prepared  to  con- 
sider the  immediately  practical  question:  How 
shall  we  seek  to  use  this  precious  literature  in 
order  that  it  may  most  truly  help  us  ?  How  shall 
we  read  it  for  our  personal  profit?  How  shall 
we  teach  it  to  our  children?  How  shall  we  em- 
ploy it  in  the  church  and  Sunday  school?  And 
what  place,  if  any,  shall  we  give  it  in  our  so- 
called  secular  education  ?  Evidently  this  question 
is  of  such  moment  as  to  demand  the  plainest, 
most  careful,  most  candid  answer  that  can  be 
given  it.  One  may  well  approach  the  task  with 
diffidence,  and  yet  with  a  serious  resolution  to 
express  with  perfect  frankness  the  truth  which 
he  is  sure  ought  to  be  uttered. 

I.  Perhaps  the  very  first  thing  to  be  said  is, 
that  we  are  not  to  be  afraid  of  the  truth.    Every 
284 


HOW  TO  READ  THE  BIBLE  285 

enlightened  person  ought  by  this  time  to  have 
been  emancipated  from  all  such  fear.  Yet  the 
real  timidity  of  many  minds  shows  the  need  of 
reassurance.  A  kind  of  superstition  still  lingers 
in  the  realm  of  religious  thought,  though  ban- 
ished from  nearly  every  other.  But  slowly  the 
influence  of  growing  knowledge  will  dispel  its 
last  vestiges,  and  men  will  learn  that  they  are 
not  to  dread  the  discovery  of  truth  in  any  do- 
main. For  when  we  consider  how  modern  physi- 
cal science  has  opened  the  material  universe  to 
our  view,  at  each  successive  stage  disclosing  new 
and  marvelous  truths  which  have  been  found  in 
due  time  to  establish  a  larger  and  grander  har- 
mony with  all  other  certainly  known  truths,  we 
must  have  the  utmost  confidence  that  Truth  is 
the  one  substantial  reality  in  the  universe,  that 
Truth  is  of  God,  and  that  therefore  every  iota  of 
truth  is  to  be  welcomed,  whencesoever  it  may 
come.  To  beget  such  a  confidence  in  our  minds, 
and  to  inform  and  train  us  so  that  we  can  distin- 
guish between  truth  and  error,  are  the  chief  ends 
of  all  our  intellectual  discipline.  There  can  be  no 
wholesome,  happy  study  and  growth  in  religion 
without  this  freedom. 

We  are,  then,  first  of  all,  to  be  open-minded 
and  unafraid.  The  universe  is  overwhelmingly 
vast,  mysterious,  rich,  glorious.  It  cannot  pos- 
sibly be  that  any  man,  or  any  church  or  book,  at 
any  time  in  the  past,  has  gathered  up  all  that  is 


286      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

to  be  known  about  it,  or  even  about  any  portion 
of  it.  Forever  it  is  to  be  expected  that  there  is 
yet  more  light  to  break  forth.  Therefore  we  are 
to  be  students,  learners,  at  once  humble  and  bold ; 
proving  all  things,  holding  fast  that  which  is 
good;  willing  to  be  corrected,  but  thoughtful, 
careful,  and  above  all  sincere.  If  we  approach 
the  Bible  in  this  attitude,  we  shall  find  our  doubts, 
perplexities,  and  anxieties  giving  way  to  in- 
creasing illumination,  growing  knowledge,  and 
deepening  satisfaction. 

2.  Perhaps  the  next  thing  to  be  said  is,  that, 
for  the  general  reader,  especially  if  past  the  peri- 
od of  youth,  there  is  need  of  a  simple  Introduc- 
tion to  the  Study  of  the  Bible,  containing  a  clear 
sketch  of  its  external  history,  a  plain  account  of 
the  traditional  view  of  it,  an  explanation  of  the 
development  of  the  modern  view,  an  indication 
of  the  real  but  great  value  of  this  ancient  liter- 
ature, and  a  trustworthy  guide  to  a  correct 
method  in  reading  it.  There  are,  to  be  sure, 
numerous  Introductions  of  an  elaborate  and 
scholarly  character  that  have  served  in  theologi- 
cal seminaries  and  for  advanced  students;  but, 
mostly,  they  are  unsuitable  for  popular  use,  and 
too  often  are  vitiated  by  the  old  and  invalid  con- 
ception of  the  nature  of  the  Bible.  Such  a  hand- 
book as  is  here  proposed  is  admirably  supplied, 
as  far  as  it  goes,  in  Professor  Walter  F.  Adeney's 
little  book  entitled  How  to  Read  the  Bible;1  but 

1  New  York:  Thomas  Whittaker,   1897. 


HOW  TO  READ  THE  BIBLE  287 

it  does  not  cover  quite  so  much  ground  as  is  de- 
sirable, though  it  deserves  to  be  in  the  hands  of 
every  parent  and  Sunday-school  teacher.  Doubt- 
less the  more  complete  treatment  of  the  intro- 
ductory matter  required  will  be  forthcoming  ere 
long;  and  even  now,  if  one  is  really  interested  to 
study — and  not  much  can  be  done  for  anyone 
who  is  not  really  interested — there  is  an  abund- 
ance of  instructive,  explanatory  material,  which 
may  serve  to  guide  the  reader  of  the  Scriptures 
to  an  understanding  of  their  origin,  history,  char- 
acter, value,  and  best  uses.  The  main  thing 
needed  by  each  person,  after  all,  is  a  genuine  de- 
sire to  get  the  message  and  the  blessing  which 
the  Bible  contains. 

3.  Another  general  fact  to  be  borne  in  mind 
is,  that  a  proper  comprehension  of  the  Bible  de- 
mands considerable  information  respecting  its 
historical  origin.  Let  not  this  remark  frighten 
anyone.  It  does  not  mean  that  every  man  must 
be  an  erudite  scholar  in  order  to  derive  any  ben- 
efit or  enjoyment  from  the  Sacred  Writings,  for 
such  an  implication  would  be  far  from  the  truth. 
Neither  does  it  mean  that  the  great,  heart-search- 
ing utterances  in  which  the  Scriptures  abound 
cannot  make  themselves  felt  with  impressive 
power  and  helpfulness  even  to  the  uneducated,  so 
true  to  life  in  all  its  deeper  experiences  are  they. 
Rather,  the  thought  is  that,  taking  up  the  Bible 
as  literature,  we  are  to  remember  that  it  is  an 


288      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

ancient  literature;  produced  by  a  people  of  an- 
tiquity who  lived  within  a  definite  historical  en- 
vironment; and  bearing,  therefore,  the  indelible 
stamp  of  the  social,  national,  and  international 
setting,  and  of  the  prevalent  ideas,  beliefs,  and 
aspirations,  which  belonged  to  the  age  or  ages 
that  yielded  it.  Accordingly  we  need  to  know 
something  about  all  these  facts  and  circum- 
stances, at  least  in  a  general  way:  and  there  is  so 
much  more  to  be  known  now  than  formerly  con- 
cerning that  remote  past,  partly  long-buried,  that 
not  only  is  such  intelligence  at  once  more  neces- 
sary and  more  accessible,  but  it  is  also  more 
interesting  and  enjoyable,  than  heretofore;  and 
consequently  ignorance  is  the  less  excusable. 

Of  course  the  extent  of  the  knowledge  to  be 
thus  sought  must  depend  a  little  on  what  you 
read  the  Bible  for.  If  you  are  reading  mainly 
for  spiritual  quickening  and  comfort,  for  devo- 
tional purposes,  you  will  not  need  so  much  of  this 
historical  information  as  if  studying  expressly  to 
ascertain  the  meaning  of  the  various  biblical  au- 
thors in  the  light  of  their  times  and  conditions. 
Still,  in  any  case,  without  a  reasonable  under- 
standing of  the  character  of  the  peculiar  soil  in 
Which  the  Bifre  grew,  you  will  be  liable  to  wan- 
der into  the  widest  and  wildest  vagar'es  in  seek- 
ing to  interpret  and  apply  its  teachings.  What 
misconstructions  of  the  Prophets,  for  example, 
have  resulted  from  failure  in  this  regard!     The 


HOW  TO  READ  THE  BIBLE  289 

story  of  the  misuse  and  abuse  of  the  Bible,  the 
wresting  and  perversion  of  its  contents,  the  build- 
ing-up of  vast  systems  of  half-truths,  is  a  long 
and  sorry  one;  and  the  only  sure  corrective  of 
them  and  protection  against  them,  one  and  all, 
is  the  thorough  historical  knowledge  here 
contended  for. 

4.  The  next  advice  to  be  given  is  to  approach 
the  Bible  frankly  as  a  human  literature.  Let  all 
thought  of  its  divine  character,  of  its  containing 
"the  Word  of  God/'  wait.  If  it  really  possesses  a 
divine  character,  it  will  speak  for  itself:  let  it 
speak,  let  it  make  its  own  impression.  If  it  con- 
tains a  message  from  God,  can  we  not  trust  God 
to  make  himself  heard?  At  any  rate,  as  has 
been  frequently  remarked,  whatever  else  the 
Bible  may  be,  or  may  be  thought  to  be,  it  comes 
to  us  as  literature  first  of  all — as  a  work  in  human 
language,  growing  out  of  the  deep  and  varied 
experiences  of  human  souls,  full  of  the  lights  and 
shadows  of  human  hope  and  fear,  joy  and  sor- 
row, love  and  hate,  goodness  and  wickedness. 
Let  it  be  taken  up  and  read  simply  as  such.  If 
God  is  in  it,  he  will  find  us.  If  the  great  spirit 
of  the  Bible  is  the  Spirit  of  the  Divine  Life,  our 
hearts  will  soon  know  it;  and  it  is  far  better  to 
feel  God  in  the  Bible,  in  the  world,  in  our  lives, 
than  to  have  him  too  much  pointed  out  and  ex- 
plained to  us.  Just  read  the  Bible  as  you  read 
the   Book   of   Nature — contemplate   it,    feel   it, 


290      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

yield  yourself  up  to  its  influence,  learn  to  love  it, 
caress  it,  and  let  its  mighty  heart-beat  reach  your 
soul:  you  will  quickly  find  that  it  speaks  to  you 
as  no  other  literature  does,  and  fills  you  with  a 
strength  you  have  not  gained  in  any  other  way. 
Then,  after  much  experience  in  such  communion 
with  the  spirit  of  the  Bible,  formulate — if  you 
wish — your  thought  or  theory  of  the  inspiration 
and  the  revelation  contained  in  its  hallowed 
pages.  When  you  come  to  do  this  you  will  avail 
yourself  of  the  thought  of  others,  and  will  seek 
all  the  information  you  can  appropriate  to  en- 
lighten and  validate  your  own  conception.  The 
great  advantage  of  this  method  will  be  found  to 
consist  in  the  production  of  fresh,  natural  ideas 
and  convictions,  growing  out  of  original,  per- 
sonal experience  under  the  impression  made  by 
the  Bible  itself,  rather  than  a  set  of  notions  and 
beliefs  taken  on  from  other  men's  experiences 
and  theories,  with  which  you  suppose  your  own 
must  be  made  to  square. 

Following  these  general  counsels,  a  few  spe- 
cific directions  may  be  properly  given. 

a)  It  is  not  best  to  try  to  read  the  Bible 
through  by  rote.  That  is  the  old-fashioned  way, 
and,  of  course,  it  is  far  better  than  no  way  at  all ; 
moreover,  it  is  consistent  enough  with  the  tradi- 
tional conception  of  the  nature  of  the  Bible.  But 
it  is  not  consistent  with  the  new  conception,  and 
entails   a   needless  waste   of  time  and   energy. 


HOW  TO  READ  THE  BIBLE  291 

What  we  want  to  get  out  of  the  Bible  mainly  is 
its  great  spirit,  its  potent  influence,  its  sublime 
teaching ;  and  we  shall  most  quickly  and  surely  do 
this  by  taking  the  salient  portions  and  grasping 
the  underlying,  pervading  truths  that  run  through 
the  Scriptures  like  threads  of  gold  in  the  warp 
and  woof  of  some  antique  tapestry.  Read  the 
Pentateuch,  Joshua,  Judges,  the  Samuels,  and  the 
Kings  for  the  historical  narratives  of  the  Old 
Testament —  read  them  at  first  without  any  refer- 
ence to  the  analysis  into  their  component  parts; 
and  later  read  them  in  their  analyzed  form,  as 
given  in  Professor  W.  E.  Addis'  Documents  of 
the  Hexateuch,  or  in  Professor  Charles  Foster 
Kent's  The  Student's  Old  Testament?  Read  the 
Psalms  for  the  devotional  spirit ;  read  the  Proph- 
ets for  the  spirit  of  patriotism  and  religious 
faith  and  fortitude;  read  the  gospels,  of  course, 
for  the  beautiful  life-story  of  Jesus,  and  for  his 
heavenly  teaching;  read  the  Acts  for  the  narra- 
tive of  the  planting  of  the  Christian  Church ;  read 
the  epistles  of  Paul  and  John  and  Peter  for  spir- 
itual inspiration,  admonition,  and  comfort.  Read 
for  nourishment  as  well  as  for  information;  and 
therefore  read  what  you  are  hungry  for,  what 
really  feeds  you — different  portions  at  different 
times. 

b)  Another  important  direction  is,  to  read  the 

8  Logically  and  chronologically  arranged  and  translated,   Scrib- 
ner,    1904. 


292      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Bible  in  generous  allotments.  Unfortunately, 
we  have  fallen  into  the  practice  of  reading  only 
detached  and  very  small  fragments,  selected 
from  various  books  in  a  series  of  very  slightly 
related  passages,  that  can  scarcely  fail  to  confuse 
and  bewilder  adults  as  well  as  children.  It  has 
been  a  baneful  method,  breaking  up  all  sense  of 
wholeness  or  continuity  in  contemplating  any 
given  writing  in  the  Bible ;  and  to  it  must  be  as- 
cribed no  small  part  of  the  lack  of  real  knowl- 
edge and  real  appreciation  of  the  literary  struc- 
ture of  the  Sacred  Volume,  of  which  we  hear  fre- 
quent complaints  today  as  prevailing  even  among 
college  students  and  many  church  people.  We 
cannot  too  quickly  begin  to  counteract  the  evil  by 
teaching  the  young  to  read  the  Bible  itself,  in- 
stead of  lesson  leaves,  and  also  to  read  long  or 
large  portions  of  the  Scriptures  continuously. 
For  example,  let  the  entire  story  of  Joseph  be 
read  at  one  or  two,  not  more  than  three,  sittings ; 
the  story  of  the  plagues  in  Egypt  and  the  flight 
of  the  Israelites,  at  a  single  sitting;  and  the  ac- 
count of  the  conquest  of  Canaan  under  Joshua,  in 
perhaps  a  couple  of  sittings.  Likewise,  from  the 
New  Testament,  let  a  number  of  chapters  from 
the  gospels  be  read  at  a  stretch,  taking  Mark 
first;  follow  with  the  book  of  Acts  in  the  same 
way;  and  take  extended  sections  of  the  great 
epistles,  and  of  the  shorter  epistles  read  the 
whole  at  a  time.     In  this  way  some  sense  of 


HOW  TO  READ  THE  BIBLE  293 

totality,  of  literary  continuity  and  comprehen- 
siveness in  each  production,  will  be  acquired. 
Better  still,  we  shall  thus  be  likely  to  read  the 
Bible  enough  to  be  saturated  with  its  noble 
thought  and  spirit,  which  is  the  main  thing, 
after  all,  for  us  to  seek. 

This  rule  becomes  especially  urgent  if  one  is 
to  gain  any  just  notion  of  the  peculiarities  of  the 
different  biblical  writers — their  characteristics  of 
style,  their  ruling  ideas,  their  points  of  view. 
For  they  are  not  all  alike  in  these  respects.  There 
is  a  wide  dissimilarity  between  Deuteronomy  and 
Job,  for  example,  or  between  Isaiah  and  Ecclesi- 
astes ;  and,  in  the  New  Testament,  between  Mark 
and  John,  or  between  Luke  and  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews.  Now  a  large  part  of  the  profit  in  read- 
ing the  Bible  lies  in  appreciating  the  real  distinc- 
tions thus  appearing  in  its  various  books — in  un- 
derstanding the  actual  qualities  which  make 
Paul's  writings  different  from  those  of  any  other 
author,  or  which  render  the  Gospel  and  the  let- 
ters of  John  unique,  or  which  put  a  stamp  of  in- 
dividuality upon  the  books  of  Chronicles.  Both 
the  intellectual  and  the  religious  benefits  accruing 
are  sure  to  be  greater  under  such  intelligent  dis- 
crimination than  under  the  old  notion  of  uniform- 
ity. I  can  respond  to  the  spiritual  sublimity  of  II 
Isaiah  more  earnestly  when  I  know  it  as  a  dif- 
ferent work  from  I  Isaiah,  and  thus  know  its  his- 
torical origin  and  its  characteristics,  than  when 


294      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

supposing  the  whole  book  which  bears  the  name 
of  Isaiah,  consisting  of  sixty-six  chapters,  to  be 
one  and  the  same  work,  by  one  and  the  same 
author.  So  I  can  derive  much  greater  help  from 
Paul  when  I  understand  him  as  Paul  than  when 
I  thoughtlessly  assume  him  to  be  just  like  John  or 
Peter  or  James.  The  remark  applies  generally 
throughout  the  Scriptures.  The  interest  of  the 
reader  will  be  heightened,  his  moral  perception 
will  be  sharpened,  and  his  religious  insight  will 
become  deeper  and  clearer  when  he  is  taught  to 
observe  real  distinctions  in  this  varied  literature 
than  if  allowed  to  reduce  it  all  to  one  common 
level. 

c)  A  good  practical  rule  also  is  to  read  vari- 
ous translations.  Happily  we  now  have  several 
of  these  in  the  English  language.  If  you  desire 
to  read  for  intellectual  as  well  as  for  moral  and 
religious  profit,  it  will  be  well  to  begin  with  the 
American  Revision,  on  account  of  its  accuracy, 
its  proper  paragraphing,  its  indication  of  quota- 
tions and  of  poetic  forms,  and  its  use  of  the  word 
"Jehovah"  in  the  Old  Testament,  in  place  of  the 
word  "Lord,"  for  the  name  of  the  Hebrew 
deity.  If  you  are  reading  for  devotional  pur- 
poses mainly,  and  love  the  old  forms  of  expres- 
sion, read  the  Authorized  Version,  noble  and  im- 
pressive in  its  somewhat  antique  yet  stately  idiom. 
If  you  wish  to  understand  the  historical  occasions 
of  the  production  of  some  of  the  books  of  the 


HOW  TO  READ  THE  BIBLE  295 

Old  Testament,  read  the  paraphrases  in  the  se- 
ries of  volumes  by  Professors  Sanders  and  Kent, 
entitled  Messages  of  the  Bible;  or  if  you  want 
to  understand  the  scholarly  analysis  of  the  Old 
Testament  books  into  their  component  parts,  take 
the  new  series  of  volumes  already  referred  to,  en- 
titled The  Student's  Old  Testament,  by  Professor 
Kent.8  It  is  interesting  and  often  instructive  to 
read  the  Psalms  as  given  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  in  the  translation  made  by  Miles  Cover- 
dale  in  1535.  In  the  New  Testament,  if  one  de- 
sires a  fresh,  vivid  rendering,  in  the  language  of 
today,  he  may  find  much  value  in  The  Twentieth 
Century  New  Testament.  The  gospels  as  here 
printed  show  their  fragmentary  character  very 
clearly.  The  work  has  been  used  with  great  ad- 
vantage in  Sunday-school  classes  of  children 
from  ten  to  thirteen  years  of  age;  the  boys  and 
girls  were  intensely  interested  in  the  story  of 
Paul's  life  and  work,  as  well  as  in  the  broken 
sketches  of  the  Master's  career.  For  children 
also  an  admirable  work  is  The  Bible  for  Chil- 
dren,4 comprising  nearly  all  the  portions  of 
Scripture,  from  both  Testaments,  which  are 
really  suitable  for  the  young  to  read,  and  fur- 
nished in  most  attractive  typographical  form.  An 
excellent  series  of  paraphrases  of  the  leading  Old 
Testament  stories,  chosen  for  their  value  in  the 

•  The    first    volume    of    this    splendid    work    has    just    come    to 
hand  as  these  pages  are  being  written    (1904). 

*  Published  by  the  Century  Company,    190a. 


296       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

moral  education  of  the  young,  is  the  small  volume 
of  Bible  Stories,  by  Mr.  Walter  L.  Sheldon.6 

By  employing  such  a  variety  of  translations, 
the  individual  reader  or  the  class  may  easily  ac- 
quire much  important  knowledge  about  the 
structure  of  the  Bible,  and  by  comparing  one  ren- 
dering with  another  may  often  gain  a  better  con- 
ception of  the  meaning  and  the  teaching  of  a 
given  passage  than  could  possibly  be  obtained  in 
any  other  way.  This  method  is  preferable  to  the 
use  of  commentaries,  because  it  trains  the  reader 
to  ascertain  what  the  Bible  really  says,  and  to  let 
it  speak  for  itself  and  make  its  own  impression. 
Thus  it  enhances  both  interest  and  profit. 

d)  A  caution  may  be  properly  given,  to  be- 
ware  of  the  interpreters  of  the  Bible  who  appear 
to  be  infallible,  and  who  build  complete  and  final 
systems  of  science  or  philosophy  or  theology  out 
of  it.  Their  name  has  been  legion,  and  in  the 
past  they  have  wrought  gross  perversions;  in- 
deed, the  bane  of  biblical  interpretation  has  nearly 
always  been  just  this  passion  for  system-building. 
Fortunately,  it  is  now  beginning  to  weaken,  un- 
der the  influence  of  the  New  Learning,  and  con- 
sequently we  shall  soon  witness  the  collapse  of 
some  stupendous,  time-honored  schemes  of  doc- 
trine. Yet  others  may  arise  to  take  their  place, 
as  even  our  own  age  abundantly  warns  us;  for 
Adventism   still  lingers,   and   Christian   Science 

8  1902   (W.  M.  Welch  &  Co.,   Chicago). 


HOW  TO  READ  THE  BIBLE  297 

grows  apace.  But  the  whole  tendency  to  build 
such  systems,  which  was  fostered  by  the  old  con- 
ception of  the  Bible,  is  utterly  discouraged  by  the 
new  conception;  and  in  proportion  as  the  reader 
apprehends  the  new  view,  and  learns  to  use  the 
Bible  in  the  new  way,  he  will  find  himself  safe- 
guarded against  being  swept  off  his  feet  by  any 
ambitious,  comprehensive  scheme,  claiming  to  be 
the  one  sure  key  to  unlock  the  mystery  of  the 
Scriptures  and  reveal  the  meaning  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  promising  the  complete  redemption  of 
the  world. 

e)  A  suggestion  worth  considering,  by  min- 
isters especially,  is  to  give  interpretative  Bible 
readings.  If  a  minister  is  fairly  educated  in  the 
modern  view  of  the  Scriptures,  and  is  a  good 
reader,  he  can  greatly  interest,  instruct,  and  spir- 
itually help  his  people  by  giving  them  occasion- 
ally, in  classes  or  groups,  extended  readings  with 
very  brief  explanatory  introductions  and  com- 
ments. For  instance,  if  he  desires  to  illustrate  the 
literary  beauty  of  the  Bible,  let  him  read  the  book 
of  Ruth  in  this  manner;  or  the  entire  story  of 
Joseph;  or  the  account  of  the  relations  and  the 
friendship  of  David  and  Jonathan.  To  illustrate 
the  moral  sublimity  of  the  Scriptures,  take  those 
parts  of  Deuteronomy  which  Professor  Moulton 
calls  "The  Orations  of  Moses,"  using  the  little 
volume  Deuteronomy  in  "The  Modern  Reader's 
Bible;"  or  take  selections  from  I  Isaiah  or  II 


298      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Isaiah,  or,  indeed,  almost  any  of  the  Prophets. 
To  illustrate  the  religious  power  of  the  Bible,  one 
may  turn  naturally  to  the  Psalms;  or  to  the  par- 
ables of  Jesus;  or  to  some  of  the  earnest  appeals 
in  Paul's  epistles.  Here  is  a  sample  of  a  single 
reading  from  the  gospels,  as  once  given  by  the 
present  writer,  with  much  satisfaction,  as  a  part 
of  his  Lenten  work: 

BIBLE  READING  I 

The  Gospel  According  to  Mark 

(From  the  Twentieth  Century  New  Testament,) 

1.  Brief  Introduction. 

a)  Author. 

b)  Date— 65-75  A.  D. 

c)  Characteristics: 

1)  Simplicity. 

2)  Mainly  narrative. 

3)  Graphic,  vivid  style. 

4)  Frequent  mention  of  casting  out  evil  spirits. 

2.  The  Reading: 

Chap.  1 — vii.  12.    The  early  work  in  Galilee 

3.  Further  Reading: 
vii.  23 — chap.  ix. 

The  above  is  merely  a  hint  of  what  may  easily 
be  done,  to  the  profit  of  both  reader  and  hearer. 
Another  instructive  reading  from  the  gospels 
may  be  made  from  Luke  ix.  51 — xix.  27,  con- 
taining what  Professor  Adeney  styles  "Luke's 
New  Contribution  to  the  Gospel  History" — al- 
though the  material  is  extensive  enough  for  two 
or  perhaps  three  readings. 


HOW  TO  READ  THE  BIBLE  299 

Professor  Richard  G.  Moulton  has  given,  in  a 
single  evening,  an  interpretative  reading  of  the 
book  of  Job,  which  has  been  illuminating,  inter- 
esting, and  religiously  impressive  to  his  auditors. 
Others  have  done  similar  work  even  more  exten- 
sively; and  there  is  no  good  reason  why  an  intel- 
ligent pastor  might  not  employ  such  a  means  for 
the  intellectual  and  spiritual  culture  of  his  people. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing  practical  counsels 
and  suggestions,  it  remains  only  to  urge  two  se- 
rious thoughts. 

1.  Read  the  Bible  diligently.  Do  not  discard 
it  wholly  for  the  newspaper,  the  magazine,  or  the 
modern  book.  Do  not  neglect  it.  Read  it  pri- 
vately; read  it  freely;  read  it  both  for  instruction 
and  for  spiritual  enrichment.  It  is  one  of  the 
world's  great  classics — taken  all  in  all,  it  is  justly 
regarded  as  the  world's  greatest  literature.  No 
one  can  afford  to  go  without  its  quickening,  re- 
straining, guiding,  comforting,  sanctifying  influ- 
ence. Let  it  have  its  due  place  of  honor  and  power 
in  each  life  and  in  each  home.  It  will  abundantly 
repay  the  esteem  and  devotion  accorded  it  by  hal- 
lowing all  thought  and  affection,  and  by  helping 
the  human  soul  to  realize  its  divine  mission. 

2.  But  let  the  light  of  truth  from  any  and  all 
other  sources  blend  with  the  light  that  shines 
from  the  pages  of  the  Bible.  Stupendous  de- 
velopments have  taken  place  since  these  ancient 


300      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Scriptures  were  produced.  Greece  and  Rome 
have  transmitted  and  diffused  their  respective 
legacies;  the  nations  of  modern  Europe  have 
arisen ;  the  Protestant  Reformation  has  occurred ; 
America  has  sprung  up  here  in  the  West ;  science 
has  been  born  with  its  own  new  and  glorious 
revelation  of  God's  works  and  ways;  and  at 
length  the  gates  are  unbarred  in  every  land,  and 
the  heralds  of  truth  are  entering  into  every 
corner  of  the  earth,  and  "the  people  that  sat  in 
darkness  have  seen  a  great  light." 

All  these  significant  events  and  achievements 
have  their  ministry  for  our  minds  and  hearts; 
they  all  bring  us  messages  from  out  the  wondrous 
Book  of  Human  Life;  and  we  must  seek  to  un- 
derstand them  aright,  and  to  let  them  modify 
as  they  must  the  peculiar  and  most  valuable 
teaching  which  it  has  been  the  mission  of  the 
Chosen  People  of  old  to  give  the  world.  We  may 
rest  assured  that  all  that  is  true  in  the  Bible  is  in 
harmony  with  all  other  truth,  and  is  permanent. 
While  many  of  the  historical  accidents  and  inci- 
dents of  these  venerable  Writings  must  be  al- 
lowed to  fall  away,  as  of  a  transient  character 
and  service,  yet  the  living  and  mighty  spirit  that 
throbs  through  them  will  still  pulsate  side  by  side 
with  all  other  good  influences,  will  still  thrill  our 
souls  with  the  power  of  the  Divine  Life,  bearing 
witness  with  our  spirit  that  we  are  children  of 
God,  and  will  thus  continue  to  guide  our  feet  into 
the  way  of  peace. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE   USE   AND   ABUSE    OF   THE   BIBLE   IN  THE 
SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

Among  the  practical  problems  involved  in  the 
new  views  of  the  Bible  which  modern  learning 
compels  us  to  take  none  is  in  greater  need  of  se- 
rious consideration  than  the  one  here  propounded. 
It  brings  up  the  whole  subject  of  the  moral  and 
religious  education  of  the  young,  the  function  of 
the  Sunday  school  in  subserving  this  high  inter- 
est, the  value  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  an  instru- 
ment therefor,  and  especially  the  right  and  wrong 
ways  in  which  they  may  be  employed.  It  is  ap- 
parent at  once  that  the  large  and  vital  questions 
thus  raised  open  room  for  wide  differences  of 
opinion,  and  that  the  judgment  which  any  man 
may  render  must  be  colored  by  his  personal  tem- 
perament, his  experience,  and  his  convictions  re- 
garding human  nature,  true  religion,  educational 
processes,  and  the  peculiar  conditions  and  re- 
quirements of  the  age  in  which  he  lives.  The  ut- 
most I  can  hope  for  is  a  careful  and  candid  state- 
ment, with  perhaps  a  few  particular  applications, 
of  those  leading  ideas  and  principles  which  I  be- 
lieve to  furnish  a  valid  guidance  for  parents  and 
teachers  who  desire  to  do  wisely  and  well  their 
human  part  in  the  very  delicate  and  important 
work  of  shaping  the  spiritual  development  of 
301 


302       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

the  children  committed  to  them  a  little  while  for 
nurture  and  instruction. 

At  the  outset  we  need  to  understand  that  the 
real  end  to  be  sought  in  all  our  moral  and  re- 
ligious dealings  with  the  young  is,  or  should  be, 
the  very  thing  which  I  have  just  mentioned — ■ 
spiritual  development.  To  be  sure,  this  is  pre- 
cisely one  of  the  points  at  which  some  of  those 
differences  of  opinion  to  which  I  have  alluded  are 
bound  to  occur:  one  man  will  say  that  our  busi- 
ness with  our  children  is  simply  to  make  good  Ro- 
man Catholics  of  them;  another,  good  Episco- 
palians; another,  good  Universalists ;  another, 
good  Christian  Scientists;  and  still  another, 
good  citizens.  But  I  should  say  that  each  of  these 
results  is  too  narrow,  if  the  human  soul  is  spirit- 
ual and  immortal,  with  a  capacity  for  growth  to 
which  we  cannot  set  limits,  and  if  also  the  spirit 
of  liberty  means  anything  great  and  potent. 
Holding  such  a  view  of  man's  nature,  and  of  the 
worth  of  freedom  in  his  life,  I  cannot  doubt  that 
the  true  goal  which  God  sets  before  him,  and 
which  parents  and  teachers  are  to  have  in  mind 
for  their  children,  is  the  full,  harmonious,  contin- 
uous development  of  all  the  potential  good  that 
lies  wrapped  up  within  one  of  these  mysterious 
beings  that  we  dare  believe  to  have  been  made  in 
the  divine  image.  None  of  us  can  say  how  vast, 
rich,  manifold  such  a  development  may  be;  we 
are  entirely  warranted  in  believing  that  the  pos- 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL     303 

sibilities  of  every  soul  for  noble  attainment  far 
surpass  our  highest  ideals;  and  if  we  could  look 
upon  each  human  child  as  Jesus  Christ  looked 
upon  men,  knowing  "what  was  in  man,"  we 
should  undoubtedly  cherish  a  more  sublime  faith, 
hope,  and  love  for  each  than  we  have  ever 
dreamed. 

Conceiving  thus  the  best  spiritual  develop- 
ment of  which  human  nature  is  susceptible  as  the 
real  and  inclusive  object  of  moral  and  religious 
education,  we  need  also  to  understand  that  such 
a  development  may  be  promoted,  such  an  educa- 
tion supplied,  in  a  variety  of  ways.  The  home, 
the  so-called  secular  school,  general  reading,  the 
influence  of  society  at  large,  the  influence  of  na- 
ture, the  work  of  life,  the  deep  promptings  of  the 
spirit  of  man,  the  holy  aspirations  and  beautiful 
ideals  that  lift  and  lure  the  soul,  the  joys  and  sor- 
rows that  the  years  inevitably  bring,  the  sins,  con- 
tritions, and  retributions  of  which  all  have  some 
experience,  and  chiefly  "the  inspiration  of  the 
Almighty" — these  are  some  of  the  means  which 
may  contribute  to  the  unfolding  of  the  divine  po- 
tentialities of  the  human  being ;  and  I  often  think 
that  they  constitute  the  principal  means,  after  all, 
for  what  President  Hyde  has  well  called  "God's 
education  of  man." 

But  we  are  next  to  note  that  the  Christian 
Church  is  a  powerful  agency  that  aims  directly 
and  specifically  at  the  same  great  result — the  spir- 


304       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

itual  development  of  mankind.  And  the  Chris- 
tian Church  has  established,  in  these  modern 
times,  the  institution  of  the  Sunday  school  to 
serve  still  more  particularly  in  this  capacity  for 
the  moral  and  religious  education  of  the  young. 
How  far  this  modern  institution  in  the  church 
really  fulfils  a  valuable  function,1  what  are  its 
palpable  defects,  how  these  may  be  remedied,  or 
what  other  agency  may  be  substituted  for  the 
school  as  now  ordinarily  conducted — these  are 
grave  questions,   but  they  cannot  be  properly 

1  The  following  trenchant  criticism  of  the  Sunday  school, 
taken  from  an  epitomized  report  of  a  sermon  by  the  Reverend 
C.  F.  Aked  (Baptist),  published  in  the  London  Christian  World, 
July  7,    1904,  indicates  the  gravity  of  the  question: 

"He  expresses  his  doubt  as  to  whether  there  is  a  Sunday 
school  in  Great  Britain  which  is  efficient.  Nearly  always  (he 
says)  the  premises  are  inadequate.  The  funds  are  inadequate. 
The  teaching  staff  is  inadequate.  The  books  are  inadequate.  The 
actual  teaching  is  inadequate.  Everything  is  inadequate  about  it. 
The  Sunday  school  is  the  home  of  reaction  and  obscurantism. 
Thoughts  which  have  been  accepted  by  every  educated  pulpit  in 
every  denomination  in  the  country  are  taught  in  the  Sunday 
school,  for  the  children  to  unlearn  as  soon  as  they  listen  to  the 
first  street-corner  sceptic.  Usually  the  best  people  in  the  churches 
do  not  come  into  the  Sunday  schools.  Those  with  the  most 
money,  and  therefore  able  to  help  in  many  kindly  ways;  those  with 
the  best  homes,  and  able  to  invite  there  the  children  who  have 
less  home  life  of  their  own;  those  with  most  leisure,  and  there- 
fore able  to  take  a  personal  interest  in  the  welfare  of  each  child; 
those  with  best  education  and  with  trained  ability  refuse  to  enter 
the  doors  of  the  Sunday  school.  Perhaps  20  per  cent,  of  the 
teaching  staff  of  the  Sunday  schools  of  the  country  may  be  drawn 
from  these  more  favored  classes.  Not  less  than  80  per  cent,  has 
been  made  up  of  the  humbler  workers.  For  them,  all  honor  and 
all  praise!  'I  know  no  Christian  worker  whom  I  hold  in  higher 
honour.  They  do  their  work  under  every  disadvantage;  their 
rewards  are  long  in  coming;  their  praise  is  not  of  men.  All 
honour  to  them!  But  their  honour  is  the  shame  of  men  and 
women  better  qualified  to  do  their  work.  Do  you  wonder  that  the 
Sunday  school  is  a  problem?' " 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL     305 

treated  here.  It  must  be  assumed  that  the  Sun- 
day school  is  in  the  great  majority  of  our 
churches  to  stay  for  the  present,  and  probably 
for  a  long  time. 

Now  the  Sunday  school  uses  the  Bible  as 
its  chief  tool  in  prosecuting  its  work.  It  uses 
other  tools  also — service-books,  song-books,  lesson 
papers,  and  explanatory  material,  pictures,  maps, 
story  papers,  library  books,  festival  occasions,  and 
above  all  living  officers  and  teachers,  who  speak 
out  of  their  real  lives  and  characters,  for  good  or 
ill;  but  all  these  subordinate  tools  are  related  to 
the  great  tool,  the  Bible,  are  imbued  more  or  less 
with  its  ideas  and  spirit,  and  are  designed  to 
inculcate  its  wonderful  truths. 

Why  do  we  give  the  Bible  such  a  predominant 
place  in  the  work  of  the  Sunday. school?  It  will 
be  worth  while  to  answer  this  question  carefully. 
And  of  course  the  comprehensive  answer  is :  Be- 
cause we  have  derived  our  religious  conceptions 
and  convictions  mainly  from  this  Sacred  Volume. 
Nearly  all  we  know  about  Christianity  and  its 
mother-religion  Judaism  has  reached  us,  directly 
and  indirectly,  through  these  Holy  Scriptures; 
and  it  is  certain  that  our  best  impulses,  our  no- 
blest beliefs,  and  our  purest  affections  are  contin- 
ually nourished  and  strengthened  from  the  same 
great  source.  So  true  is  this  that  I  suppose  not 
one  person  in  a  thousand,  in  our  own  part  of  the 
world,  ever  imagines  that  we  should  have  any 


306       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

religion  at  all  if  it  were  not  for  the  Bible.  But  I 
have  asked  the  question:  "Why  do  we  give  the 
Bible  such  a  predominant  place  in  the  work  of  the 
Sunday  school  ?"  exactly  for  the  purpose  of  ar- 
resting attention  and  exciting  thought  at  this 
very  point.  For  until  we  see  that  religion  and 
morality  are  at  least  possible  without  the  Bible, 
we  shall  not  make  them  what  they  ought  to  be 
with  the  Bible.  By  this  I  mean  that  there  is 
something  deeper  in  human  life  than  either  the 
Bible  or  the  church,  namely,  the  ethical  and  re- 
ligious instinct,  out  of  which  both  the  Bible  and 
the  church  have  sprung,  and  which  would  still 
be  one  of  the  mightiest  forces  in  the  world  even 
if  there  were  no  Bible  and  no  church.  The  recog- 
nition of  this  fundamental  fact  is  the  very  first 
condition  of  making  a  right  use  of  the  Bible,  and 
of  correcting  the  abuses  to  which  we  so  often  sub- 
ject both  it  and  those  whom  we  teach  from  it. 
Here,  then,  is  the  bedrock  upon  which  we  must 
stand:  Man  is  a  moral  and  religious  being  by 
nature;  in  his  own  soul  are  spiritual  impulses, 
promptings,  intuitions,  aspirations ;  and  Bibles, 
churches,  and  teachers  are  merely  helps,  to  wake 
him  up,  enlighten  him,  guide  him,  bless  him. 
This  clear,  simple,  profound  and  vital  truth  is  the 
one  which,  more  than  any  other  that  I  can  state, 
needs  due  appreciation  in  the  religious  thinking 
of  our  time;  and  when  duly  appreciated,  it  will 
do  more  than  any  other  to  clarify  religious  dis- 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL     307 

cussion  and  instruction.  It  is  the  great  central 
truth  in  all  the  new,  valid  thought  of  the  present 
age. 

Now  consider  the  bearing  of  this  fundamental 
principle  upon  the  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  Sunday- 
school. 

1.  At  once  we  see  that  the  most  important 
object  in  the  Sunday  school  is  not  the  Bible,  but 
the  child.  This  little  human  being,  with  all  his 
capacities  and  powers,  this  living  creature  made 
in  the  likeness  of  God,  with  unmeasured  possi- 
bilities for  good  or  evil,  is  here  before  us,  the  real 
center  of  all  our  interest;  and  what  for?  I  an- 
swer :  To  be  helped,  especially  in  the  direction  of 
spiritual  development;  to  be  awakened,  enlight- 
ened, strengthened,  guided  in  the  way  of  a  true 
moral  and  religious  life.  The  teacher  is  here  be- 
side this  child,  meeting  him  on  the  basis  of  inter- 
est and  love,  for  the  express  purpose  of  trying  to 
help  him  thus.  Let  the  teacher  never  forget  this 
fact,  let  the  whole  school  remember  it  always — 
the  central  object  of  our  concern  is  the  living 
individual  child. 

2.  Down  deep  in  the  heart  of  this  child,  hid- 
den from  the  superficial  gaze  and  but  half  recog- 
nized by  the  clearest  insight,  are  native  instincts, 
latent  potentialities,  vague,  flitting  feelings  and 
longings,  slowly  forming  into  tendencies,  ex- 
pressing themselves  in  actions,  and  later  develop- 
ing habits  and  producing  character.     No  man 


308       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

knows  all  of  the  good  or  evil  that  may  come  out  of 
that  little  child's  heart;  but  we  do  know,  at  least 
we  are  absolutely  to  trust,  that  there  is  something 
divinely  noble  and  beautiful  there  to  which  the 
wise  and  loving  teacher  may  appeal.  This  is  the 
most  precious  and  sacred  fact  that  claims  our  at- 
tention; it  is  prior  to  all  Bibles,  churches,  and 
schools;  and  we  must  not  fail  to  keep  it  dis- 
tinctly in  view  in  the  presence  of  all  our  methods 
and  mechanisms. 

3.  As  already  intimated,  the  teacher's  main 
task  is  to  do  what  he  can,  by  wisdom  and  affec- 
tion, to  shape  the  unfolding  of  these  inner  spir- 
itual tendencies  of  the  child's  nature;  to  awaken 
the  divine  voices  in  the  chambers  of  his  little  soul ; 
to  strike  the  finer  chords  of  his  being,  whose  mu- 
sic is  the  sweetest  and  holiest  that  he  may  ever 
hear;  to  help  him  understand  the  sacred  and  au- 
gust meaning  of  all  his  purest  desires  and  convic- 
tions— in  short,  to  bring  him  to  moral  and  reli- 
gious self-consciousness,  so  that  he  shall  know 
himself  as  a  spiritual  being  and  be  able  at  length 
to  guide  himself  securely  amid  the  temptations 
and  duties  of  life.  Such  ought  to  be  every  teach- 
er's intelligent  aim,  such  his  passionate  desire,  if 
he  really  seeks  to  help  his  pupils.  Need  I  say 
that  it  is  the  most  delicate  and  difficult,  as  it  is 
the  most  blessed,  service  in  all  the  world?  Alas, 
that  we  blunder  at  it  as  we  do ! 

4.  In  seeking  to  perform  this  vital  service  for 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL     309 

the  child,  the  teacher  and  the  school  have  two 
particular  things  to  do,  namely,  to  nurture  the 
child  and  to  instruct  him.  The  two  processes  are 
closely  related,  but  are  not  identical.  True,  there 
is  a  sense  in  which  all  instruction,  if  it  be  real,  is 
nourishing;  and  yet  it  is  not  always  or  altogether 
so.  Instruction  consists  mainly  in  imparting  in- 
formation; and  information  is  not  so  much  food 
as  it  is  the  raw  material  of  food.  At  any  rate 
I  am  sure  there  are  ways  of  so  presenting  great, 
divine  truths  and  ideals  to  the  human  soul  as  to 
nourish  it  in  virtue,  grace,  and  love,  feeding 
it  with  what  we  justly  call  "the  bread  of 
life;"  and  there  are  other  ways  of  so  presenting 
them  as  merely  to  engage  the  contemplation  of 
the  mind  and  afford  a  correct  intellectual  view. 
I  am  equally  sure  that  these  two  processes  need 
to  go  together — the  impartation  of  truth,  and  the 
inculcation  of  the  spirit  of  truth ;  but  I  think  that 
what  young  children  chiefly  need  is  nutriment 
rather  than  information.  In  other  words,  we 
should  warm  their  little  hearts  with  love,  and 
nourish  them  in  goodness,  and  strengthen  them 
with  high  and  righteous  purposes  before  we  try- 
to  give  their  minds  a  knowledge  of  many  facts 
or  a  critical  view  of  life's  problems. 

Now,  if  all  this  is  plain,  we  are  prepared  to  see 
why  we  should  use  the  Bible  in  the  Sunday  school, 
why  we  must  not  use  it  too  much,  and  how  we 
may  best  use  it. 


3io       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

I.  Remembering  that  the  nature  and  welfare 
of  the  child  come  first,  and  that  the  Sunday 
school  exists  for  the  purpose  of  ministering  to 
his  spiritual  development,  we  are  to  use  the  Bible 
simply  as  a  help  to  this  end,  and  because  it  is  a 
great,  mighty,  blessed  help.  It  is  such  a  help  be- 
cause it  is  so  full  of  spiritual  power;  it  throbs 
with  the  sense  of  righteousness,  with  faith  in 
God,  with  the  longing  after  a  good  life;  and  if 
we  read  it  so  as  to  drink  in  its  spirit,  or  study  it  so 
as  to  appreciate  its  true  teachings,  we  soon  find 
that  it  powerfully  quickens  our  native  sense  of 
right  and  wrong,  vivifies  our  purest  ideals  of 
worthy  living,  makes  us  feel  the  presence  of  God 
in  the  affairs  of  this  turbulent  world,  and  shows 
us  the  pathway  that  leads  the  individual  soul  and 
the  human  race  toward  light  and  peace.  No 
other  literature  was  ever  so  rich  and  strong  in 
these  respects.  To  feed  ourselves  upon  it,  to  in- 
stil its  spirit  into  the  hearts  of  our  children,  is  to 
quicken  and  invigorate  every  noble  impulse  in  us 
and  them.  To  imbue  our  nation  with  its  prin- 
ciples is  to  help  our  nation  to  be  reverent,  serious, 
honest,  virtuous,  fraternal,  benevolent.  It  were 
almost  impossible  for  any  people  or  any  person 
to  drink  long,  deep  draughts  from  this  fountain 
without  experiencing  a  life-giving  influence  of 
priceless  value. 

It  is  because  the  Bible  has  proved  itself, 
through  centuries  of  use,  among  all  sorts  and  con- 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL     311 

ditions  of  men,  in  nearly  every  land  on  the  face 
of  the  earth,  to  possess  this  power  and  to  pro- 
duce in  some  degree  these  effects,  that  we  are 
warranted  in  continuing  to  employ  it  in  our  Sun- 
day schools  as  our  chief  instrumentality  for  min- 
istering to  the  moral  and  religious  education  of 
the  young.  Its  solemn,  impressive  words  make 
our  liturgies  and  inspire  our  songs  as  no  others 
are  able  to  do ;  every  mood  of  the  soul,  from  peni- 
tence and  grief  to  victory  and  joy,  can  express 
itself  with  wonderful  felicity  and  variety  in 
phrases  or  sentences  culled  from  its  pages;  and 
the  spell  which  its  stately  language  and  its  exalted 
thoughts  weave  over  our  hearts  brings  us  into 
communion  with  divine  things,  hallowed  and 
beautiful,  such  as  we  scarcely  ever  realize  in  any 
other  way — such  as  only  Nature  can  afford  us 
when  we  are  in  our  finest,  most  receptive,  most 
responsive  attitude.  Indeed,  without  the  Bible  to 
prompt  our  worship  and  guide  our  meditation,  it 
is  altogether  likely  that  we  should  not  see  one- 
half  of  the  spiritual  meaning  which  we  now  read 
in  the  great  Book  of  Nature.  The  Bible  helps  us 
to  interpret  Nature  divinely,  as  it  likewise  helps 
us  to  interpret  life  and  our  own  souls  and  the  uni- 
verse divinely.  For  all  these  reasons,  and  the 
many  that  go  with  them,  we  use  the  Bible  in  the 
Sunday  school,  and  feel  that  nothing  else  can  take 
its  place.  And  yet  it  is  only  a  help,  a  tool,  in  the 
hands  of  living  men  and  women  to  minister  to  the 
spiritual  development  of  the  young. 


312       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

2.  But  we  must  not  use  the  Bible  too  exclu- 
sively. It  is  entirely  possible,  even  easy,  to  do  so. 
Remembering  that  the  Bible  is  not  the  source  of 
the  ethical  and  religious  impulses  of  the  human 
soul,  but  merely  an  instrumentality  for  their  re- 
inforcement, we  must  always  pay  chief  attention 
to  this  living  word  of  God  that  is  written  and  en- 
graven, not  on  tables  of  stone,  not  on  rolls  of 
parchment,  not  on  printed  pages,  but  "in  fleshly 
tables  of  the  heart" — the  freshest  and  most  po- 
tent of  all  divine  influences  for  every  spiritual 
child  of  the  Eternal  Father.  It  is  here,  if  any- 
where, that  God  and  man  must  meet — in  the  in- 
ner sanctuary,  the  true  "holy  of  holies/'  of  each 
human  life;  it  is  here  that  each  of  us  must  learn 
somehow  to  feel,  recognize,  and  understand  God ; 
it  is  here,  in  these  deepest  and  most  august  ex- 
periences, that  "the  Spirit  beareth  witness  with 
our  spirit  that  we  are  children  of  God."  If  we 
allow  the  Bible  or  any  other  external  agency  to 
come  too  abruptly  or  too  frequently  into  this  pri- 
vate sanctuary,  we  put  something  between  our- 
selves and  our  Father  which  may  possibly  hinder 
rather  than  help  our  communion ;  and  if  we  thrust 
the  Bible  or  any  other  agency  thus  between  the 
little  child  and  the  great  God,  we  may  prevent 
the  very  thing  we  want  mainly  to  secure — the 
child's  reverent  hearing  and  glad  recognition  of 
the  living  voice  of  its  heavenly  Father.  Here  is 
our  perplexing  paradox:     No  Bible,  no  church, 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL     313 

no  minister  must  be  permitted  to  stand  between 
the  human  soul  and  God  to  separate  the  two ;  and 
yet  all  Bibles,  all  churches,  all  ministers  must  be 
welcomed  to  stand  between  them  to  bring  them 
together. 

Again,  if  we  use  the  Bible  too  exclusively,  we 
shall  almost  inevitably  convey  the  impression  that 
the  Bible  and  religion  are  identical,  that  we  are 
necessarily  studying  and  teaching  religion  when 
we  are  studying  and  teaching  the  Bible ;  whereas 
such  is  not  the  case.  The  Bible  is  an  historical 
product  of  the  religious  spirit;  as  such  it  is  of 
measureless  worth,  because  bearing  so  clear  and 
copious  a  witness  to  God's  dealings  with  a  certain 
race,  or  with  certain  races,  and  likewise  with 
many  individuals,  in  the  remote  past;  but  it  is 
not  itself  religion,  and  we  must  guard  against  the 
notion  that  God  confined  his  dealings  and  his  dis- 
closures to  the  Israelites  of  two  and  three  thou- 
sand years  ago;  also  we  must  guard  against  the 
notion  that  whatever  belonged  to  the  Israelites — 
their  land,  which  they  took  by  violence  from  the 
Canaanites,  their  battles  and  intrigues,  their  crude 
and  erroneous  conceptions  of  the  universe — must 
necessarily  have  been  religious  and  acceptable  in 
the  sight  of  God.  What  we  really  want  to  make 
sure  of  is  that  we  and  our  children  shall  see  that, 
as  God  dealt  with  the  Israelitish  people  in  the 
olden  time,  and  made  known  to  them  somewhat 
of  his  truth  and  will,  so  does  he  deal  with  all 


314      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

peoples  today,  and  unfold  his  great,  holy  purposes 
for  their  guidance  and  blessing.  To  this  end  we 
need  constantly  to  translate  history  into  experi- 
ence, to  interpret  history  in  the  light  of  experi- 
ence, to  read  the  story  of  God's  ways  in  the  past 
in  the  light  of  his  ways  with  us  here  and  now, 
Surely,  if  we  thus  learn  to  find  God  in  the  life  of 
the  present,  for  ourselves  individually,  for  our 
>wn  country,  and  for  the  whole  modern  world, 
we  shall  not  fail  to  trace  his  handiwork  among 
the  nations  of  antiquity,  even  more  widely  than 
Israel  ever  dreamed. 

3.  From  these  reflections  it  becomes  apparent 
that  we  shall  best  use  the  Bible  in  the  Sunday 
school  by  using  it  discriminatingly,  selectively, 
yet  comprehensively,  and  above  all  vitally. 

a)  We  must  discriminate  between  true  and 
false,  good  and  bad,  high  and  low  in  its  contents ; 
for  they  are  not  uniform  and  equal.  For  in- 
stance, take  the  conduct  of  Jacob  in  defrauding 
his  brother  Esau  by  deceiving  their  aged  father 
Isaac  at  the  instigation  of  their  mother  Rebekah : 
if  there  is  any  reason  for  presenting  this  story  at 
all  to  young  children,  and  if  it  is  to  be  studied 
by  older  pupils,  the  whole  case  should  be  brought 
squarely  to  the  bar  of  their  intelligence  and  con- 
science for  just  judgment;  and  even  very  young 
children  may  be  enabled  to  see  and  feel  that  the 
conduct  of  Jacob  and  Rebekah  was  grossly  repre- 
hensible.    No  hesitation  should  be  indulged  in 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL     315 

pronouncing  this  verdict,  when  fairly  and  sin- 
cerely reached,  because  forsooth  Jacob  became 
the  servant  of  Jehovah  for  great  ends;  he  did 
not  become  such  a  servant  because  of  this  decep- 
tion, but  rather  in  spite  of  it ;  and  the  religiously 
valuable  truth  may  be  impressed,  that  God  often 
uses  imperfect  and  very  faulty  men  to  work  out 
his  vast  purposes,  but  their  faults  and  sins  are 
nevertheless  to  be  condemned  and  do  really 
hinder  the  divine  plans. 

Similar  distinctions,  intellectual  or  moral,  will 
occur  frequently  in  the  Bible  narratives:  for  ex- 
ample, in  the  story  of  Rahab,  the  harlot,  when 
she  hid  the  spies  and  lied  about  it ;  in  the  accounts 
of  the  ruthless  slaughter  of  people  and  animals 
by  Joshua's  conquering  armies;  in  the  tale  of 
David's  wicked  act  of  procuring  Uriah's  death; 
and — not  to  mention  many  others — in  the  New 
Testament  lecord  of  Peter's  base  denial  of  the 
Master.  All  these,  just  because  they  involve 
such  distinctions,  which  appeal  to  the  sense  of 
right  and  justice  in  the  human  soul,  are  most  in- 
structive instances  of  conduct ;  but  to  fail  to  bring 
them  out,  to  fail  to  evoke  the  honest  judgment  of 
the  young  regarding  them,  is  to  make  well-nigh 
a  total  failure  in  their  use  as  material  for  moral 
and  religious  education.  Even  as  children  must 
be  taught  to  discriminate  and  judge  justly  in 
regard  to  the  words  and  deeds  of  living  men  and 
women  in  the  world  around  them  today,  so  must 


316       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

they  be  helped  to  do  with  respect  to  the  char- 
acters that  come  before  them  in  the  Bible. 
Nothing  is  more  important  than  to  acquire  the 
habit  of  sincerely  trying  thus  to  judge  justly 
about  people  and  questions  in  everyday  life;  and 
the  study  of  the  Bible,  if  pursued  in  this  way, 
may  be  made  to  contribute  effectually  and  abund- 
antly to  such  a  discipline.  But  the  neglect  of  this 
principle  of  discrimination,  leading  to  a  blurring 
of  distinctions  in  the  Scriptures,  and  to  a  conse- 
quent blunting  of  the  finest  sensibilities  of  the 
soul,  may  render  the  study  of  the  Bible  harmful 
rather  than  helpful.  Therefore  teacher  and  pupil 
alike  should,  so  far  as  possible,  heed  the  signifi- 
cant question  once  asked  by  the  great  Teacher  of 
whom  we  all  are  glad  to  learn:  "Why  even  of 
yourselves  judge  ye  not  what  is  right?"2 

b)  The  Bible  should  be  used  selectively.  Not 
all  of  it  is  "profitable  for  teaching,  for  reproof, 
for  correction,  for  discipline  which  is  in  right- 
eousness." 8  Certainly  many  portions  of  it  are 
unsuitable  for  the  instruction  of  young  children, 
and  others  are  questionable  even  for  boys  and 
girls  under  twenty  years  of  age.  Not  only  the 
genealogical  lists  and  the  ceremonial  laws  found 
in  the  Old  Testament;  but  also  the  stories  of 
sexual  sins,  of  barbaric  cruelties,  of  murder,  of 
merciless  bloodshed  in  war,  are  unfit  for  the  Spir- 
it Luke  xii.  57- 
•II  Tim.  iii   16. 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL     317 

itual  culture  of  the  young.  For  this  and  other 
reasons,  an  expurgated  Bible  is  needed — such  an 
edition,  for  example,  as  The  Bible  for  Children.* 
Of  course  in  the  Sunday  school  only  small  sec- 
tions of  the  Scriptures  can  be  studied  anyhow, 
for  want  of  time ;  but  the  point  here  made  is  that, 
on  grounds  of  fitness  or  merit,  there  must  be  a 
careful  selection  of  passages. 

In  making  such  a  selection  the  guiding  prin- 
ciple should  be  to  try  to  meet  the  real  needs  of  the 
pupils,  which  will  be  different  at  different  stages 
of  their  development.  For  the  youngest  children 
— such  as  are  usually  included  in  the  primary 
grades — it  is  best  to  use  only  a  few  biblical  ma- 
terials, consisting  mainly  of  those  choice  stories 
or  sentences  which  help  to  give  them  the  great 
and  beautiful  thought  of  God's  loving  care  for 
the  world  of  nature  and  human  kind,  and  which 
tell  them  a  little  about  the  childhood  of  Jesus 
and  about  his  noble  character  as  a  great  and  good 
Teacher.  Other  materials — especially  pictures, 
and  lessons  from  Nature,  and  the  Christian  holi- 
days, and  the  life  of  the  family — can  be  used  to 
excellent  advantage ;  and  above  all  the  intelligent, 
reverent,  and  loving  attitude  and  influence  of 
the  teacher,  with  songs,  prayers,  and  other  exer- 
cises, will  make  the  work  of  this  department 
happy  and  sweet.  Older  children — from  nine  to 
fourteen  years — will  be  interested  and  helped  by 

*  Century   Company. 


3i8       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

the  Old  Testament  stories,  and  by  the  New  Testa- 
ment narratives  of  Christ's  life  and  Paul's  work; 
and  also  by  the  parables  and  teachings  of  Christ, 
if  wisely  and  vitally  handled  by  the  teacher.  Still 
later,  the  young  people  can  be  led  to  see  and  feel 
the  essential  nobleness  of  Jesus'  character,  and 
the  loftiness  and  soundness  of  his  ethical  and 
religious  teachings;  and,  with  him  as  a  center 
or  standard,  they  can  trace  the  moral  develop- 
ment of  the  Israelitish  people  through  their  long, 
hard  history.  At  every  point  the  ruling  aim 
should  be  to  adapt  the  Bible  to  the  actual  needs 
of  the  pupils,  and  to  employ  such  portions  of  it 
at  different  stages  as  may  be  best  calculated 
to  appeal  vitally  to  their  growing  spiritual 
consciousness. 

c)  At  the  same  time,  the  Bible  should  be  stud- 
ied somewhat  comprehensively.  By  this  I  mean 
that  there  should  be  some  evident  totality,  whole- 
ness, completeness  in  the  passages  chosen.  Es- 
pecially should  this  principle  hold  in  the  older 
classes,  with  pupils  sixteen  years  of  age  and  over. 
Separate  books  of  the  Bible  should  be  taken  up  as 
wholes.  Students  who,  in  the  public  schools  of 
even  the  grammar  grade,  spend  a  few  weeks  in 
reading  "The  Merchant  of  Venice,"  until  they 
know  it  almost  by  heart  and  very  thoroughly  ap- 
preciate it,  can  surely  be  taught  to  read  and  com- 
prehend the  Gospel  according  to  Luke,  if  a 
reasonable  length  of  time  is  taken  and  if  the 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL     319 

teacher  .is  competent.  The  same  may  be  said 
respecting  nearly  every  other  book  in  the  Bible; 
and  it  is  vastly  better  to  study  each  book  sep- 
arately, as  a  whole,  and  somewhat  thoroughly, 
seeking  to  understand  the  point  of  view,  style, 
and  leading  ideas  of  its  author,  than  to  "run,  hop, 
skip,  and  jump"  from  book  to  book  and  passage 
to  passage,  until  nothing  but  fragmentary,  hazy, 
and  bewildering  notions  of  the  Bible  can  remain 
in  the  pupils'  minds.  A  certain  class  of  boys, 
seven  in  number  and  from  sixteen  to  twenty  years 
of  age,  has  recently  spent  about  four  months — 
that  is,  about  twenty-five  minutes  each  Sunday 
for  four  months — in  reading  the  book  of  Job, 
with  only  a  little  comment,  and  with  no  preach- 
ing or  moralizing  on  the  part  of  the  teacher;  and 
it  is  perfectly  plain  that  they  have  been  much 
more  interested  and  have  derived  greater  profit 
than  could  have  been  the  case  in  any  desultory 
study  of  a  half-dozen  different  books  in  the  same 
period.  The  class  had  previously  read,  in  a  sim- 
ilar way,  the  bulk  of  Genesis,  Exodus,  parts  of 
Leviticus  and  Deuteronomy,  a  portion  of  Judges, 
the  whole  of  Ruth;  and  will  go  on  to  read  per- 
haps Isaiah  and  Jeremiah,  and  several  of  the 
New  Testament  books.  All  lesson  papers  and 
''helps"  are  discarded;  the  Bible  is  given  a  chance 
to  speak  for  itself ;  and  each  particular  book  stud- 
ied is  treated  as  an  entity,  until  its  individuality 
is  somewhat  clearly  understood.     This  is  what 


320      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

is  meant  by  the  principle  of  comprehensiveness 
in  the  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  Sunday  school. 
Much  more  might  be  said  concerning  other  as- 
pects and  applications  of  the  principle,  but  limits 
of  space  forbid. 

d)  Finally,  and  chiefly,  the  Bible  should  be 
used  vitally.  Perhaps  the  worst  evil  in  Sunday- 
school  work — possibly  in  all  other  kinds  of  reli- 
gious work — is  a  lack  of  vitality,  reality,  sincer- 
ity. Songs  are  sung,  Scriptures  are  read,  prayers 
are  said  that  are  not  half  meant;  these  exercises 
become  lifeless  formalities;  they  do  not  come 
from  the  souls  of  the  leaders,  and  do  not  "reach" 
the  souls  of  the  followers.  What  wonder  that,  in 
such  an  atmosphere,  the  study  of  the  Bible  is  a 
meaningless  procedure,  and  that  the  Sunday 
school  loses  its  grip  upon  the  young  people? 
Nothing  will  hold  them  long  or  do  them  any 
good  except  reality — a  vital  and  sincere  spirit  in 
the  hearts  of  officers  and  teachers.  Given  this, 
there  will  be  earnest  work ;  a  note  of  genuineness 
will  be  felt  in  all  the  services;  and  the  lessons 
from  the  Bible  will  be  approached  in  reverence 
and  with  positive  interest.  It  is  pitiful,  it  is  al- 
most saereligious,  to  take  the  great  utterances  of 
Scripture,  full  of  exalted  and  holy  meanings,  and 
bandy  them  about,  or  repeat  them  flippantly ;  and 
likewise  to  sing  carelessly  the  loftiest  and  sweet- 
est hymns,  that  have  been  born  of  anguish  or 
transcendent  joy,  when  human  souls  have  been 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL     321 

transfigured  in  the  light  of  God's  presence.  Is 
there  anything  that  can  work  a  more  serious  in- 
jury to  the  finest  sensibilities  of  the  spirits  of 
children  and  youth,  in  the  name  of  religion,  than 
mockery  like  this  ? 

Plainly,  then,  it  is  imperative  that  the  princi- 
pal condition  of  effective  spiritual  work  in  the 
Sunday  school  should  be  recognized  as  that  of 
spiritual  vitality  on  the  part  of  pastor,  officers, 
and  teachers.  The  great,  strong,  holy  spirit  of 
the  Bible  must  first  penetrate  their  hearts;  then 
it  will  be  surely  felt,  to  some  extent,  throughout 
the  school.  The  noble  teachings  of  the  Bible 
must  have  some  real  power  and  find  some  real 
exemplification  in  the  lives  and  characters  of 
those  in  the  church  who  are  set  to  lead  and  teach 
the  young,  or  this  very  best  Book  in  all  the  world 
will  fail  to  accomplish  its  blessed  mission  in  be- 
half of  souls  naturally  susceptible  to  its  beautiful 
influence.  In  other  words,  the  Bible  must  be 
translated  into  life,  into  experience,  by  the 
teacher,  and  must  thus  reach  the  pupil  through 
the  personality  of  the  teacher,  in  order  to  do  its 
inestimable  work  in  the  moral  and  religious  edu- 
cation of  children  and  youth.  The  teacher  is 
to  be  the  living  connecting  link  between  the  Bible 
and  the  child. 

Because  the  spiritual  cultivation  of  the  young 
is  the  most  delicate  and  sacred  task  committed  to 
the  Sunday  school,  or  indeed  to  any  other  agency, 


322       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

and  because  the  Bible  is  the  greatest  and  best  of 
tools  for  this  purpose,  it  becomes  supremely  im- 
portant that  the  utmost  pains  should  be  taken  to 
enable  the  teachers  to  understand  the  Bible,  to 
understand  childhood,  and  to  know  how  best  to 
try  to  give  the  former  to  the  latter.  All  this  im- 
plies intelligent  preparation,  knowledge,  skill, 
loving  interest  and  devotion,  and  a  living  appre- 
hension and  appreciation  of  spiritual  truth  as  re- 
lated to  an  unfolding  human  life.  It  implies  also 
the  subordination  of  the  Bible  to  the  teacher  and 
the  child,  rather  than  the  subordination  of  the 
teacher  and  the  child  to  the  Bible.  The  Bible  is 
merely  an  instrument,  a  vehicle,  a  means  to  an 
end ;  the  teacher  is  a  superior  agency  to  reach  the 
same  end;  and  that  end  is  the  spiritual  awaken- 
ing, enlightenment,  refinement,  invigoration,  and 
sanctification  of  a  growing  child  of  God.  The 
child  is  the  center  of  interest;  and  both  teacher 
and  Bible  are  to  work  together,  the  one  as  master 
and  the  other  as  implement,  to  fashion  in  immor- 
tal beauty  the  slowly  developing  character  of  a 
being  made  "but  little  lower  than  the  angels." 

It  will  be  a  happy  day  for  the  Sunday  school, 
and  a  blessed  augury  for  the  vital  advance  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  when  the  new  appreciation 
of  the  Bible  and  the  new  appreciation  of  child- 
hood are  duly  supplemented  by  a  new  apprecia- 
tion of  the  joyous  privilege  and  the  high  respon- 
sibility of  the  religious  teacher,  who  shall  know 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL     323 

how  to  use  and  not  abuse  the  Bible,  how  to  help 
and  not  hurt  the  child;  and  who  shall  be  ade- 
quately supported  by  a  church  that  knows  how  to 
honor  and  compensate  such  a  holy  service.  The 
dawn  of  that  golden  day  is  already  at  hand. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL 

Has  the  Bible  a  legitimate  place  in  the  public 
school?  This  question,  with  its  implications,  is 
receiving  increasing  attention  in  our  country  at 
present.  The  issues  raised  by  it  have  been  much 
debated  in  recent  years  by  able  partisans,  and  ju- 
dicial students  have  been  seeking  some  ample 
common  ground  on  which  conflicting  claims 
might  be  justly  and  wisely  reconciled.  It  cannot 
be  said  that  a  large  measure  of  success  has  at- 
tended these  efforts,  and  yet  they  have  not  been 
without  some  valuable  results;  at  least  they  have 
made  it  clear  that  vital  interests  are  involved 
in  the  discussion,  to  which  thoughtful  people 
cannot  afford  to  be  indifferent. 

Of  course  the  problem  as  it  now  confronts  us 
has  a  history;  it  strikes  its  roots  into  the  soil  of 
the  past,  and  we  must  glance  at  the  developments 
which  lie  behind  us,  in  order  to  comprehend  the 
existing  situation  today. 

Not  many  centuries  ago — four  or  five — re- 
ligion was  the  dominant  interest  in  the  western 
world;  and  the  Church,  which  was  the  chief  re- 
ligious institution,  exercised  a  controlling  in- 
fluence over  theology,  education,  charity,  and 
many  civil  and  political  affairs:  indeed,  it  had 
long  been  the  aim  of  the  Church  to  be  absolute 

324 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL      325 

mistress  in  both  the  spiritual  and  the  secular 
realms ;  and  the  great  conflict  of  the  later  Middle 
Age  arose  largely  from  the  struggle  of  the  State 
to  free  itself  from  the  tyranny  of  the  Church. 
This  conflict,  protracted  and  titanic,  enters,  in 
one  form  or  another,  into  all  our  modern  history, 
making  and  explaining  England  and  America 
as  far  as  any  other  factor  that  has  contributed 
to  the  production  of  their  peculiar  institutions. 
At  length  the  State  was  completely  successful  as 
against  the  Church,  especially  here  in  this  new 
country.  Accordingly  the  one  striking  feature  of 
our  civil  and  ecclesiastical  situation  is  a  reversal 
of  the  mediaeval  arrangement,  making  the  State 
not  only  independent  but  supreme,  so  that  the 
Church  really  derives  her  legal  existence  from 
the  State,  just  as  any  other  chartered  body  does ; 
although  the  Church  is  left  free  within  her  own 
distinctive  sphere.  Thus  we  have  a  free  Church 
within  a  free  State,  and  the  individual  citizen  is 
more  free  in  both  than  anywhere  else  in  the 
world. 

As  a  part  or  concomitant  of  this  very  signifi- 
cant historic  development,  the  State  has  gradu- 
ally taken  over  the  control  of  a  number  of  im- 
portant interests  which  were  formerly  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Church,  wholly  or  mainly — 
for  example,  the  regulation  of  marriage  and  di- 
vorce; the  administration  of  charity,  or  the  care 
of    the    dependent,    defective,    and    delinquent 


326      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

classes;  and  the  conduct  of  education.  The 
Church  still  has  her  share  in  the  promotion  of 
human  welfare  by  and  through  these  vital  con- 
cerns; but  the  Stated  share  has  steadily  in- 
creased, until  now  it  is  paramount,  and  without 
its  great  work  in  these  respects  we  can  hardly 
see  how  our  social  fabric  could  be  maintained, 
and  certainly  life  would  be  vastly  poorer  for  us 
all. 

Is  it  a  misfortune  that  the  State  has  thus  be- 
come the  principal  agency  for  the  management  of 
these  great  interests?  It  is  certainly  so  regarded, 
particularly  in  the  matter  of  education,  by  a 
large  and  respectable  class  of  people  among  us, 
notably  our  Roman  Catholic  brethren.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  overwhelming  majority  of  our 
citizens  consider  the  development  an  immense 
blessing;  and  I,  for  one,  am  deeply  convinced 
that  the  right  lies  with  the  majority  in  this  case. 
For  think  what  has  really  occurred.  The  prin- 
ciples and  spirit  of  the  Christian  religion,  incul- 
cating and  reinforcing  all  pure  social  sympathy 
and  solicitude,  and  prompting  to  every  noble  sort 
of  helpful  service,  have  overflowed  the  confines 
of  the  Church  and  are  spreading  far  and  wide 
through  society  at  large ;  and  society  at  large,  re- 
sponding to  this  diffused  and  holy  influence,  is 
engaging,  with  the  revenues  and  machinery  at 
its  command,  in  gigantic  enterprises  of  human 
betterment  for  all  classes  and  individuals.    Is  this 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL     327 

to  be  regretted?  Do  we  want  the  sunshine  of 
Christianity  bottled  up  in  the  Church?  Are  we 
not  glad  to  see  it  radiating  in  all  directions,  and 
brightening  every  place  where  men  live?  In- 
deed, is  not  this  precisely  the  grand  object  of 
Christianity — the  effective  diffusion  of  the 
Christ-like  spirit  everywhere?  Henry  Drum- 
mond  was  right  when  he  said: 

People  do  not  dispute  that  religion  is  in  the  Church. 
What  is  now  wanted  is  to  let  them  see  it  in  the  City. 
One  Christian  City,  one  City  in  any  part  of  the  earth, 
whose  citizens  from  the  greatest  to  the  humblest  lived 
in  the  spirit  of  Christ,  where  religion  had  overflowed  the 
Churches  and  passed  into  the  streets,  inundating  every 
house  and  workshop,  and  permeating  the  whole  social 
and  commercial  life — one  such  Christian  City  would  seal 
the  redemption  of  the  world.1 

Now  I  hold  that  our  entire  modern  democratic 
movement,  in  spite  of  all  its  faults,  means  ex- 
actly this — the  overflowing  of  Christianity  from 
the  Church  into  the  City  and  the  State,  so 
that  these  great  organizations,  representing  all 
the  people,  are  undertaking  to  work  for  the 
welfare  of  all  the  people  in  certain  large  and 
vital  things — sanitation,  charity,  education,  art, 
and  even  amusement.  I  call  this  process,  for 
want  of  a  better  word  to  describe  it,  a  vast  conse- 
cration of  society;  and  cannot  but  rejoice  that 
it  is  taking  place.2 

1  The  City   Without  a  Church,  p.    16. 

*  A  few  sentences  from  Professor  Henry  S.  Nash's  excellent 
book,  Genesis  of  the  Social  Conscience,  may  show  more  fully  what 
is  here  implied:     "The  soul  has  entered  the  State.     The  State  has 


328      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Now  in  the  light  of  this  brief  historical  re- 
view we  see  how  and  why  education  has  come  to 
be  so  largely  an  affair  of  the  State,  particularly 
in  our  own  country;  and  it  is  easy  to  understand 
why  formal  religious  instruction  has  had  no  place 
in  our  public-school  system.  The  divorce  be- 
tween Church  and  State,  which  is  here  an  accom- 
plished fact,  is  the  result  of  a  long  and  bitter 
controversy,  which  was  inevitable,  and  the  issue 
of  which  marked  a  great  advance  in  the  progress 
of  our  western  civilization.  But  because  people 
in  our  part  of  the  world  are  very  sharply  divided 
along  lines  of  religious  belief  and  practice,  while 
a  few  even  are  hostile  to  any  and  every  form  of 
religion,  it  has  seemed  necessary  for  the  State, 
representing  and  serving  the  whole  population, 
to  relegate  religious  teaching  to  the  Church,  leav- 
ing it  out  of  the  public  schools  altogether,  in  order 
to  deal  consistently  and  justly  with  all  classes 
and  individuals. 

On  this  account  our  public  schools  have  been 
called  "godless'*  by  unfriendly  critics,  and  have 

acquired  some  of  the  prerogatives  of  the  Church,  and  is  likely  to 
acquire  more;  for  the  career  of  the  free  State  has  barely  begun. 
The  creation  of  a  united  Germany,  the  birth  of  Italian  unity,  the 
rise  of  Japan,  the  vast  expansion  of  lay  education  through  the 
public  school  and  the  university,  and  many  another  feature  of 
contemporary  life,  tell  us  with  unmistakable  emphasis  that  for  an 
indefinite  stretch  of  centuries  in  the  future  the  conception  of  the 
State  is  bound  to  gain  steadily  in  spiritual  significance,  and  in 
the  power  to  command  the  spirit  and  imagination  of  our  picked 
men  and  women.  .  .  .  The  Church  therefore  is  facing  a  new 
fact  which  has  a  central  position  in  the  spiritual  order  of  things." 
(Pp.  302,  303.) 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL      329 

been  charged  even  with  being  nurseries  of  a  kind 
of  infidelity  and  immorality  which  will  soon  or 
late  bring  our  nation  to  grief.  I  think  there  is 
a  degree  of  truth  in  this  criticism,  and  shall  try 
to  estimate  it  later  on ;  at  least  I  suppose  the  ma- 
jority of  the  staunch  supporters  of  the  public- 
school  system  would  acknowledge  that  the  omis- 
sion of  all  religious  instruction  entails  some  inci- 
dental losses  to  our  civilization  and  to  the  culti- 
vation of  the  race  that  are  of  a  serious  character. 
But  neither  critic  nor  friend  has  yet  shown  us  a 
more  excellent  way  for  a  strictly  public-school 
system  in  a  thoroughly  democratic  country. 
Meanwhile,  those  who  are  most  dissatisfied  are 
establishing  parochial  schools;  and  of  course 
there  are  many  private  schools,  with  or  without 
the  prominent  incorporation  of  the  religious  ele- 
ment. Nevertheless,  the  public-school  system 
goes  on  working  and  growing,  and  is  the  great 
educational  agency  for  our  nation  as  a  whole. 

Now  the  reason  why  the  Bible  has  been  de- 
nied a  place  in  the  public  schools  altogether,  or 
has  been  restricted  in  its  use  to  the  mere  reading, 
without  comment,  of  brief  passages,  lies  in  the 
fact  that  the  Bible  is  so  closely  associated  in  the 
popular  mind  with  religion  as  to  appear  to  be  a 
very  definite  religious  instrumentality.  It  has 
been  supposed  that  the  Bible  could  not  be  studied 
or  extensively  read  without  the  inculcation  of 
theological    conceptions    and    doctrines    which 


33°      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

might  be  offensive  to  someone,  and  so  the  rule 
of  impartial  justice  should  be  broken.  As  indi- 
cating this  prevalent  attitude  in  our  country,  the 
following  exhibit  of  custom  and  law  is  given  by 
Dr.  Charles  H.  Thurber,  of  Boston,  in  his  ad- 
dress before  the  first  Convention  of  the  Religious 
Education  Association,  at  Chicago,  February, 
1903: 

In  New  York  State,  the  Bible  may  be  read,  if  no  one 
objects,  but  must  not  be  read  if  anyone  objects.  Massa- 
chusetts requires  some  portion  of  the  Bible  to  be  read 
daily  in  the  public  schools.  In  Missouri  the  trustees  may 
compel  Bible  reading.  In  Illinois  a  student  may  be  ex- 
pelled for  studying  during  the  reading  of  the  Bible.  In 
Georgia  the  Bible  must  be  used  in  the  school.  Iowa 
leaves  the  matter  entirely  to  the  judgment  of  the  teacher 
and  permits  no  dictation  by  either  parents  or  trustees. 
In  Arkansas  the  trustees  settle  the  question.  In  North 
and  South  Dakota  the  Bible  may  not  be  excluded  from 
any  public  school,  and  may  be  read  daily  for  not  to  ex- 
ceed ten  minutes,  at  the  option  of  the  teacher.  In  most 
states  that  permit  Bible  reading  no  pupil  can  be  compelled 
against  his  parents'  wishes  to  take  part  in  the  reading  or 
to  be  present  during  the  reading.  But  in  Maine  a  child 
expelled  for  refusing  to  read  the  Bible  cannot  recover 
damages.  Arkansas  forbids  the  granting  of  a  certificate 
to  a  teacher  who  does  not  believe  in  a  Supreme  Being,  and 
Rhode  Island  recommends  the  rejection  of  any  teacher 
who  is  in  the  habit  of  ridiculing  or  scoffing  at  religion. 
Washington  prohibits  the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the 
schools;.  Arizona  revokes  the  certificate  of  any  teacher 
who  conducts  religious  exercises  in  school;  and  in  1890 
the  supreme  court  of  Wisconsin  decided  that  the  reading 
of  the  Bible  in  the  public  schools  is  unconstitutional.  In 
1861  the  Cincinnati  school  board  was  upheld  in  forbid- 
ding the  reading  of  the  Bible.  The  same  action  was 
taken  in   Chicago   in   1875,  and  in   New   Haven  in   1878. 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL     331 

New  Hampshire  requires  that  "the  morning  exercises  of 
all  the  schools  shall  commence  with  the  reading  of  the 
Scriptures,  followed  by  the  Lord's  Prayer."  Pennsylvania 
says:  "The  Scriptures  come  under  the  head  of  textbooks, 
and  they  should  not  be  omitted  from  the  list;"  in  1895 
the  Bible  was  read  in  87^2  per  cent,  of  the  schools  of  the 
state.  Virginia  seems  to  have  no  law  on  the  subject,  but 
the  Bible  is  generally  read.  South  Carolina  has  no  law 
on  the  subject.  The  Bible  is  not  read  in  any  of  the 
schools  of  Utah. 

Continues  Dr.  Thurber : 

In  1896,  reports  on  this  subject  were  gathered  from 
946  superintendents,  representing  all  parts  of  the  country. 
Of  this  number  454  reported  the  Bible  as  read  in  all  their 
schools,  295  reported  it  as  read  in  part  of  their  schools, 
and  197  reported  it  as  read  in  none  of  their  schools.  Th* 
law  ranges,  as  you  have  observed,  between  absolute  pro- 
hibition of  Bible  reading;  permitting  it  when  no  one  ob- 
jects, but  not  otherwise;  leaving  it  to  the  option  of  the 
local  authorities,  either  trustees  or  teacher;  and  requir- 
ing it,  either  leaving  the  amount  and  method  to  the  option 
of  the  teacher  or  prescribing  a  very  limited  amount  of 
reading  daily. 

Dr.  Thurber  properly  remarks: 

At  best  this  is  not  much,  not  much  of  the  Bible,  and 
almost  nothing  in  the  way  of  effective  teaching.  But  it 
is  well  to  understand  that  there  are  laws  governing  this 
matter,  and  that  we  are  not  dealing  with  a  question  that 
can  be  settled  offhand  in  a  religious  gathering  or  a 
teachers'  convention.  If  there  is  not  more  direct  religious 
teaching  in  our  schools,  at  least  it  is  not  the  fault  of 
the  teachers.  Nor  can  there  be  more  than  there  is  now, 
unless  the  laws  are  changed.  Referring  to  the  reasons 
I  have  suggested  for  the  enactment  of  these  laws,  and 
with  a  knowledge  of  the  lurking  danger  of  sectarian 
strife,  we  cannot  escape  the  conviction  that  we  have  here 
a  most  difficult  and  delicate  problem.8 

•  Proceedings  of  the  Convention,  pp.   131-133. 


332      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Having  thus  got  the  situation  fairly  before 
us,  by  a  glance  at  its  history  and  by  a  statement 
of  its  present  aspects,  we  are  ready  to  ask  what 
can  be  done  to  improve  it. 

Evidently  no  radical  departure  from  existing 
usage  can  be  hastily  made;  any  change  that  may 
be  brought  about  must  come  gradually  and  with- 
out force;  strife  or  bigotry,  on  either  side,  will 
do  more  harm  than  good.  At  the  same  time,  it 
is  quite  apparent  that  certain  modifications  of 
current  thought  are  silently  growing  which  are 
tending  to  alter  the  judgment  heretofore  prevail- 
ing, and  which  are  possibly  preparing  the  way  for 
a  wiser,  more  generous  public  policy. 

i.  There  is  a  growing  appreciation  of  the 
Bible  as  a  noble  literature.  It  is  almost  univer- 
sally conceded  that  the  Scriptures  comprise  some 
of  the  very  finest  and  grandest  writings  ever  pro- 
duced; and  it  is  increasingly  recognized  by  intel- 
ligent people  as  a  misfortune  and  an  injustice  to 
deprive  the  youth  of  our  land  of  an  acquaintance 
with  this  ancient,  incomparable  literature.  Not 
only  ought  Christian  children  to  know  about  it, 
but  all  who  love  culture  or  for  whom  culture 
should  be  an  end  in  education  are  entitled  to  un- 
derstand the  large  place  which  the  Bible  has  oc- 
cupied in  history,  and  to  appreciate  the  great 
ideas  and  the  exalted  spirit  that  make  the  Bible 
unique.  As  the  literary  excellences  of  the  Bible 
become  more  familiar,  and  as  the  study  of  litera- 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL      333 

ture  in  general  increases,  disclosing  countless  al- 
lusions to  biblical  passages,  the  demand  for  some 
knowledge  of  the  Bible  purely  as  literature  is 
likely  to  grow.  It  is  growing  at  present,  and  I 
am  confident  that  it  will  continue  to  do  so. 

2.  There  is  likewise  an  increasing  apprecia- 
tion of  the  Bible  as  a  means  of  moral  culture. 
It  is  the  most  intensely  moral  literature  in  "the 
world.  It  throbs  with  moral  earnestness,  it 
pleads  for  righteousness  with  passionate  ardor, 
and  its  teaching  about  duty  is  clear,  positive, 
comprehensive,  and  applies  with  equal  effective- 
ness to  the  individual  and  to  society  as  a  whole. 
Because  of  this  remarkable  quality  possessed  by 
the  Bible,  ethical  teachers  like  Dr.  Felix  Adler 
and  Mr.  Walter  L.  Sheldon  turn  to  the  stories, 
prophecies,  psalms,  and  parables  of  the  Scriptures 
as  the  very  best  writings  for  awakening  moral 
sentiments  in  the  young,  or  for  strengthening 
moral  conviction  and  purpose,  or  for  affording 
moral  guidance  in  practical  conduct.4  The  simple 
fact  is  that  no  literature  surpasses,  no  extensive 
literature  equals,  the  Bible  in  this  respect.  There- 
fore it  is  too  important  a  means  of  ethical  culture 
to  be  ignored.  Thoughtful  people  are  more  and 
more  taking  this  view. 

3.  There  is  a  growing  recognition  of  the  in- 
adequacy of  a  merely  intellectual  education,  or 

*  See  Dr.  Adler's  Moral  Education;  also  Mr.  Sheldon's  An 
Ethical  Sunday  School. 


334       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

even  an  intellectual  and  an  aesthetic  education. 
Everywhere,  in  recent  years,  educators  have  been 
calling  loudly  for  character  as  the  essential  pro- 
duct which  our  schools,  especially  our  public 
schools,  should  turn  out.  The  acquisition  of  in- 
formation or  the  sharpening  of  wits  may  be  but 
an  equipment  for  shrewder  crime,  unless  coun- 
tervailed by  moral  invigoration  and  discipline. 
The  chief  stress  of  modern  life  is  a  moral  stress, 
the  chief  danger  that  threatens  the  modern  State 
is  moral  danger,  and  the  chief  need  in  safeguard- 
ing and  perpetuating  our  precious  heritage  of  free 
institutions  is  character,  formed  upon  firm  prin- 
ciple, and  imbued  with  the  spirit  and  power  of 
righteousness.  Otherwise  we  shall  make  ship- 
wreck of  our  American  experiment,  while  wreck- 
ing the  lives  of  countless  thousands  of  our  indi- 
vidual men  and  women.  This,  too,  is  a  deepen- 
ing conviction  among  enlightened  people. 

4.  Once  more,  there  is  a  growing  recognition 
of  the  great  advantage  and  the  serious  responsi- 
bility of  the  public  school  for  effecting  the  moral 
education  of  the  young.  It  reaches  directly  and 
commandingly  the  vast  majority  of  the  children 
of  our  country;  it  has  them  in  charge  from  three 
to  five  hours  a  day,  and  five  days  a  week,  for 
from  thirty  to  forty  weeks  a  year,  for  eight  or 
ten  years.  Thus  its  opportunity  is  the  largest 
and  best  that  is  possessed  by  any  organized  insti- 
tution among  us.     Not  even  the  Church  can  do 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL      335 

so  much  with  and  for  the  children,  because  of 
its  want  of  time.  The  schools  have  the  time, 
the  children,  the  material  equipment,  the  support 
and  compulsion  of  law,  the  deep  interest  of  the 
people  in  general,  and  the  service  of  trained  men 
and  women  as  teachers.  Surely  their  opportunity- 
is  large,  and  their  responsibility  for  results  must 
be  held  to  be  correspondingly  large.  If,  to  no 
slight  extent,  these  results  may  be  rightly  ex- 
pected to  be  moral,  the  schools  must  certainly  ful- 
fil somehow  an  exceedingly  important  moral 
function. 

Here,  then,  are  certain  elements  of  possibly  a 
new  judgment  respecting  the  question  before  us: 
on  the  one  hand,  we  have  a  growing  appreciation 
of  the  Bible  as  a  noble  literature,  and  also  as  a 
means  of  moral  culture;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
we  have  an  increasing  demand  for  moral  results 
in  education,  along  with  an  increasing  recogni- 
tion of  the  opportunity  and  responsibility  of  the 
public  school  for  furnishing  it. 

If,  now,  we  could  take  two  or  three  additional 
steps,  we  might  perhaps  reach  a  satisfactory  solu- 
tion of  our  problem. 

a)  If  we  could  discard  the  dogmatic  use  of 
the  Bible,  and  treat  it  simply  as  a  great  litera- 
ture imbued  with  the  spirit  of  morality  and  re- 
ligion, and  could  be  content  to  read  it  as  litera- 
ture, with  a  view  merely  to  letting  this  strong, 
characteristic  quality  make  its  own  natural  im- 


336      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

pression  upon  the  mind  and  heart,  we  might 
quicken  the  moral  and  religious  spirit  in  the  souls 
of  the  young  without  attempting  to  impart, 
much  less  impose,  any  definite  theological  or 
ecclesiastical  notions. 

b)  If,  moreover,  we  could  find  and  employ 
special  teachers  to  go  into  the  public  schools  to 
teach  the  Bible  in  this  way,  as  we  now  employ 
special  instructors  in  music  and  drawing — teach- 
ers abundantly  qualified  for  a  delicate  and  diffi- 
cult task — we  should  approach  still  nearer  the 
goal  so  earnestly  desired  by  many  good  people. 

c)  If,  once  more,  we  could  simplify  or  lighten 
the  present  overloaded  school  curriculum,  giving 
the  pupils  a  little  more  time  to  feel,  to  absorb, 
and  to  think,  we  should  discover  that  the  Bible, 
when  used  as  has  been  just  now  proposed,  would, 
like  a  noble  production  in  poetry,  painting,  sculp- 
ture, or  music,  convey  its  own  sublime  message 
into  many  a  young  mind  and  heart;  whereas, 
without  time  to  feel — that  is,  without  opportunity 
to  ponder  and  wonder  and  respond — even  the 
reading  of  the  Bible  would  be  a  superficial  and 
worthless  exercise. 

Theoretically  all  this  would  seem  feasible 
enough,  and  justifiable.  No  thoughtful  person 
will  dispute  the  claim  that  the  Bible  is  a  great 
literature,  or  that  its  ideas  and  ideals,  its  historic 
associations  and  its  potent  spirit  have  had  a  sub- 
stantial influence  in  the  development  of  our  mod- 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL      337 

crn  civilization.    Surely,  then,  it  were  illogical  to 
refuse  a  recognition  of  the  Bible  as  such  a  litera- 
ture and  such  a  powerful  factor,  and  unjust  to  the 
young  to  withhold  from  them  a  knowledge  of 
these  things.    The  history  of  Israel  is  as  deserv- 
ing of  study  as  the  history  of  Persia  or  that  of 
Italy;  and  there  ought  not  to  be  any  more  diffi- 
culty in  reading  the  writings  of  Isaiah  or  Jere- 
miah, for  example,  in  connection  with  Israel's 
history  than  in  reading  the  sermons  of  Savo- 
narola, or  interpreting  the  art  of  Michael  Angelo, 
in  connection  with  Italian  history.    Indeed,  if  we 
may  properly  decorate  our  public  schoolrooms 
with   distinctively   Christian   pictures,    why   ex- 
clude all  knowledge  of  the  Christian  Scriptures 
which  helped  to  produce  such  pictures  and  can 
alone  explain  them?     If  we  relate  the  story  of 
the    Pilgrims,    in   teaching   the   history   of   the 
United  States,  how  can  we  fail  to  imply  and  con- 
vey some  conception  of  the  place  and  influence 
of  the  Bible   in  the  lives  of  those  universally 
honored  pioneers?  Or  if  we  describe  the  Spanish 
explorations  and  settlements  in  the  New  World, 
why  ignore  or  minimize  the  religious  considera- 
tions which  often  had  a  large  place  in  their  plans  ? 
The  fact  is,  we  cannot  dodge  the  subject  of  re- 
ligion, if  we  try,  in  the  study  of  history,  litera- 
ture, art,  music,  or  any  other  important  phase 
of  modern  civilization;  and  we  ought  not  to  try. 
But  it  is  possible  to  treat  religion  in  a  large,  fair, 


33^       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

sympathetic  way;  to  distinguish  between  the  re- 
ligious instinct  or  sentiment  or  spirit,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  its  expressions  in  worship,  theology 
and  ecclesiasticism,  on  the  other  hand;  and  to 
seek  to  quicken  and  strengthen  this  religious 
spirit,  which  underlies  all  forms  of  worship,  all 
creeds,  and  all  churches,  without  indulging  any 
prejudices  or  preferences  respecting  dogmatic 
and  sectarian  interests. 

If  we  can  bring  ourselves  into  this  generous 
and  reverent  attitude,  learning  to  have  more  re- 
gard for  the  soul  of  religion  than  for  its  body, 
we  shall  soon  raise  up,  in  our  churches,  normal 
schools,  and  universities,  a  supply  of  enlightened, 
magnanimous  teachers  who  shall  be  competent 
to  deal  with  the  vital  interests  of  moral  and  reli- 
gious education  as  wisely,  delicately,  and  justly 
as  others  now  deal  with  history,  literature,  music, 
and  art;  and  we  shall  find  that  there  is  ample 
room  in  the  public  school  for  such  teachers,  lov- 
ing the  spiritual  aspects  of  civilization  and  sympa- 
thizing with  all  the  noble  aspirations  of  the  race, 
to  make  a  vital,  inspiring,  and  delightful  use  of 
the  Bible  purely  as  a  great  spiritual  literature  in- 
culcating the  spirit  of  morality  and  religion,  with- 
out aiming  to  impart  a  bit  of  theological  bias  or 
any  taint  of  sectarianism.  Then  we  shall  dis- 
cover that  the  influence  of  the  Bible  will  be  to 
set  righteousness  into  the  midst  of  life's  great  in- 
terests, and  to  buttress  it  by  reverence  on  the  one 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL      339 

side  and  by  brotherly  love  on  the  other  side. 
Thus  we  shall  acquaint  the  young  with  what  is 
most  essential  in  this  precious  literature,  and  shall 
powerfully  reinforce  the  central  principle  of  all 
good  conduct,  righteousness,  to  which  every  con- 
science testifies,  by  the  hallowing  spirit  of  rever- 
ence and  by  the  unselfish  spirit  of  brotherly  love. 

The  obstacles  to  the  course  here  suggested  are 
mainly  inherent  in  the  fact  that  the  people  gen- 
erally are  not  yet  ready  to  regard  and  treat  the 
Bible  in  the  large  and  free  way  just  indicated; 
nor  are  they  prepared  to  be  content  to  put  the 
emphasis  upon  the  soul  of  religion,  and  to  con- 
sider its  manifold  bodily  forms  as  of  secondary 
importance.  But  they  are  progressing  rapidly 
toward  this  more  liberal  and  more  spiritual  posi- 
tion. With  the  advances  made  during  the  last 
generation  in  biblical  knowledge  and  in  educa- 
tional theory,  we  may  reasonably  expect  another 
generation  to  bring  us  to  the  desired  goal — to  the 
point  where  we  may  appropriate  the  essential  and 
potent  spirit  of  the  Bible  to  the  paramount  ends 
of  true  culture  and  of  ethical-religious  impres- 
sion, without  injustice  to  any  individual  or  class. 

The  process,  however,  will  be  necessarily  grad- 
ual and  prolonged.  We  must  all  be  patient,  mag- 
nanimous, and  kind  while  it  is  going  on.  We 
cannot  force  results  or  methods.  We  must  give 
every  interest  a  fair  hearing;  and  we  must  wait. 
The  public  mind  will  have  to  "catch  up"  with 


340       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

the  advanced  positions  of  biblical  scholars  and 
educational  leaders  ere  the  literary,  historical, 
and  spiritual  values  of  the  Bible  can  be  handled 
in  the  public  schools  with  due  discrimination  and 
appreciation  to  render  the  work  acceptable  to  the 
people  at  large  or  highly  profitable  to  the  pupils. 
We  must  remember  that  the  existing  situation,  in- 
volving the  divorce  between  Church  and  State, 
along  with  the  entire  exclusion  of  religious  in- 
struction and  the  partial  exclusion  of  even  the 
reading  of  the  Bible  from  the  public  schools,  re- 
sulted from  certain  powerful  ideas  and  influences 
long  operative  in  the  past  which  we  have  not  yet 
wholly  outgrown;  and  we  are  now  in  the  midst 
of  the  process  of  transforming  some  of  these,  and 
must  patiently  await  the  great  improvement 
which  the  change  will  ultimately  yield. 

A  right  ideal  of  the  place  of  Scripture  in  the  public 
school  consistently  followed  might  have  prevented  a  woe- 
ful setback  to  real  enlightenment  on  subjects  pertaining 
to  morality  and  religion.  But  we  had  first  to  learn  what 
this  ideal  is,  and  how  biblical  science  should  be  taught. 
Perhaps  the  reaction  may  come  when  the  notion  of  the 
Bible  as  a  compendium  of  standard  religious  doctrines,  a 
textbook  of  theology,  has  yielded  to  a  more  reasonable 
faith.  Perhaps  the  beginning  may  be  when  the  public 
sees  the  right  ideal  maintained,  and  the  right  system  of 
biblical  science  pursued,  in  our  Christian  colleges  and 
universities.8 

The  foregoing  examination  of  the  question 
brings  us  back  to  the  present  status  of  affairs. 

B  Professor  B.  W.  Bacon,  in  Proceedings  of  the  Religious  Ed- 
ucation Association,  1904,  p.   131. 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL      341 

We  see  that  this  cannot  be  suddenly  or  exten- 
sively altered.  Discussion  and  tentative  experi- 
ments may  bring  some  modifications  of  thought 
and  policy,  but  no  radical  or  sweeping  changes 
can  be  expected ;  neither  would  they  be  desirable. 
Meanwhile,  however,  we  may  well  take  to  heart 
two  or  three  considerations. 

1.  It  is  cause  for  gratification  that  so  much 
is  being  done  in  our  colleges  and  universities 
along  the  very  lines  just  indicated  in  Professor 
Bacon's  words.  Within  the  last  two  decades 
many  of  these  institutions  have  established  pro- 
fessorships and  courses  in  biblical  literature  and 
history,  which  have  become  quite  as  popular  as 
others.  The  fruits  of  this  fundamental  work  are 
already  accruing  in  two  ways :  sending  out  num- 
bers of  soundly  educated  young  men  and  women 
in  matters  pertaining  to  a  correct  general  concep- 
tion of  the  Bible;  and  also  spreading  through 
many  communities  a  new  and  more  enlightened 
interest  in  the  proper  study  of  the  Scriptures. 
Churches  are  benefiting  by  all  this;  and  grad- 
ually a  generation  will  grow  up  that  will  easily 
and  fully  share  the  new  appreciation  of  the  Bible, 
whence  we  may  look  for  a  wider  and  more  vital 
use,  as  well  as  a  more  keen  enjoyment,  of  the 
manifold  riches  of  this  ancient,  age-lasting  liter- 
ature. Here,  again,  the  institutions  of  the  higher 
education  are  proving  themselves  the  worthy 
guides  and  sure  redeemers  of  society. 


342       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

The  nature  and  grounds  of  such  educational 

work  are  admirably  stated  by  Professor  Henry  T. 

Fowler,  as  follows : 

This  movement  is  actuated,  it  would  seem,  by  the 
same  motives  that  support  the  study  of  other  literatures 
and  histories,  namely,  an  appreciation  of  intellectual, 
aesthetic,  and  practical  value.  Only  thus  can  the  results 
of  the  present  development  become  widespread  and  per- 
manent. At  best,  the  rapidity  of  the  spread  must  be 
limited  by  the  whole  force  of  educational  tendency  and 
tradition  that  has  emphasized  other  literatures  rather 
than  this  one.  It  must  be  limited,  too,  by  present  popular 
feeling  as  to  the  true  function  of  the  Bible,  by  present 
interest  of  students  in  the  modern  rather  than  the  ancient, 
by  present  lack  of  suitable  teachers  and  endowments.  A 
growing  recognition,  however,  on  the  part  of  educators 
of  the  true  claims  of  the  Bible  as  a  part  of  a  liberal  edu- 
cation will  steadily  overcome  these  difficulties.8 

2.  While  awaiting  the  enrichment  of  the  pop- 
ular mind,  thus  to  be  ultimately  derived  from  the 
work  of  the  colleges  and  universities,  we  must  re- 
member that  we  have  other  agencies  than  the 
public  schools  for  educating  the  young  in  mor- 
ality and  religion.  Education  is,  indeed,  "a  uni- 
tary process,"  as  President  Nicholas  Murray  But- 
ler has  said ;  but  it  does  not  therefore  follow  that 
all  phases  of  education  must  be  furnished  in  one 
place  or  under  one  system.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
it  is  not  so,  and  it  cannot  be  so.  Everything  edu- 
cates, or  miseducates — the  home,  the  school,  the 
church,  the  street,  the  newspaper,  life,  Nature. 
We  do  not  expect  the  public  school  to  instruct  our 

c  Address,  Religious  Education  Association,  1904;  sec  Pro- 
ceedings,  p.   136. 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL      343 

children  in  dancing,  in  instrumental  music,  in  eti- 
quette, in  painting  and  sculpture,  although  all 
these  are  regarded  as  essential  by  thousands  of 
people.  No  more  should  we  require  the  distinc- 
tively ethical  and  religious  aspects  of  education 
to  be  supplied  by  the  public  schools,  much  beyond 
the  rudimentary  ideas,  principles  and  habits  ne- 
cessary to  all  proper  conduct,  which  are  incident- 
ally yet  inevitably  inculcated  through  the  ordi- 
nary relationships  of  teachers  and  pupils.  We 
send  our  children  to  the  dancing  master  for  one 
kind  of  education,  to  the  music  teacher  for  an- 
other kind,  and  to  the  art  school  for  still  another. 
This  brings  us  plainly  to  see  that  we  are  to 
look  chiefly  to  the  home  and  the  church  for  the 
education  of  the  young  in  morality  and  religion. 
And  precisely  here  lies  one  of  the  points  most 
needing  to  be  strengthened  in  the  life  of  today. 
The  due  co-operation  of  the  home  and  the  church 
with  the  school  is  an  imperative  requirement, 
but  it  is  far  from  being  adequately  met.  The 
home  has  been  somewhat  weakened,  in  many  in- 
stances, by  the  increasing  influence  of  wealth,  the 
growth  of  the  boarding-house  habit,  and,  alas! 
the  too  facile  disruption  of  the  marriage  bond; 
and  it  is  to  be  feared  that  it  has  been  further 
weakened,  all  unwittingly,  by  being  relieved  of 
the  sense  of  parental  responsibility  for  the  edu- 
cation of  the  children  through  the  taking-over  of 
this  task  by  the  public  school  and  the  Sunday 


344      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

school.  The  time  has  come  when  we  need  to 
understand  as  thoroughly  as  possible  that  the 
school  and  the  church  cannot  fulfil  the  function 
of  the  home,  but  can  merely  supplement  it;  and 
when  we  must  do  everything  in  our  power  to 
create  and  maintain  a  living  sympathy,  an  ear- 
nest and  intelligent  co-operation,  between  the 
home  and  the  school,  between  the  home  and  the 
church.  And  it  must  be  said  that  the  church  is 
not  at  present  rising  to  its  opportunity  in  this 
respect.  By  inviting  the  family  to  send  its  chil- 
dren to  the  Sunday  school  for  education  in  morals 
and  religion,  it  has  done  much,  albeit  with  the 
best  of  intentions,  to  break  down  the  sense  of 
parental  responsibility  for  such  eduation;  but  it 
has  not  done  enough  to  counteract  this  evil  and  to 
secure  a  greater  good  by  throwing  back  upon  the 
home  a  spiritual  interpretation  of  such  responsi- 
bility, and  by  throwing  back  into  the  home  suffici- 
ent helpful  influences  to  enable  the  parents  to  do 
their  duty.  A  reform  or  improvement  in  the 
church's  ministration  in  this  particular  is  urgent- 
ly called  for;  it  cannot  commence  too  soon;  and 
when  started,  the  church  will  find  a  new  and  most 
fertile  field  for  the  abundant  production  of  the 
fruits  of  the  spirit.  If  the  home  and  the  church 
can  be  brought  into  vital  connection  and  adequate 
co-operation,  as  would  appear  to  be  one  of  the 
most  natural  openings  or  relationships  for  the 
ministry  of  Christian  education,  there   will  be 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL      345 

little  cause  for  complaint  on  account  of  the 
neglect  of  moral  and  religious  interests  in  the 
work  of  the  public  schools.  Let  the  responsibility 
rest  where  it  really  belongs. 

3.  Finally,  we  must  not  fail  to  appreciate  the 
spiritual  influence  of  the  public  schools  under 
existing  conditions.  They  are  not  "godless,"  nor 
are  they  immoral,  either  in  the  positive  sense  of 
breeding  bad  morals  or  in  the  negative  sense  of 
failing  to  inculcate  good  morals.  To  allege  that 
they  are  so,  implying  that  such  is  generally  the 
case,  is  a  gross  and  malignant  slander ;  and  when 
one  sees  this  charge  made  most  frequently  in 
precisely  those  quarters  where  the  effort  is  most 
sedulous  to  get  sectarian  parochial  schools  ac- 
cepted as  an  equivalent  substitute  for  the  public 
schools,  so  that  they  may  receive  a  portion  of  the 
public  funds,  or  so  that  their  supporters  may  not 
be  taxed  for  the  maintenance  of  the  public-school 
system,  one  cannot  feel  that  the  allegation 
proceeds  from  entirely  disingenuous  motives. 

Wholesale  judgments  are  always  liable  to  con- 
tain a  considerable  element  of  error ;  but  scarcely 
any  general  judgment  is  safer  than  that  the  pub- 
lic schools  of  America,  as  a  rule  and  on  the  whole, 
tend  very  strongly  to  produce  a  noble  type  of 
life  and  character.  Their  teachers,  as  a.  class, 
are  high-grade  men  and  women,  whose  personal 
influence  is  refining  and  elevating;  they  are  usu- 
ally   earnest,    honest,    unselfish,    public-spirited, 


34^       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

and  they  diligently  seek  to  present  true  ideals  to 
their  pupils,  and  to  incite  them  to  worthy  en- 
deavor. If  the  schools  do  not  directly  and  pur- 
posely inculcate  reverence  in  the  religious  sense, 
they  do  at  least,  by  their  ordinary  and  necessary 
work,  instil  reverence  for  excellence;  and  this 
lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  true  reverence  for 
things  divine  and  eternal.  More  than  a  founda- 
tion for  the  building  of  a  good  character,  more 
than  the  humble  beginning  of  a  preparation  for 
life-long  growth  in  knowledge,  usefulness,  and 
happiness,  the  public  schools  cannot  be  reasonably 
required  to  furnish.  By  furnishing  this,  even  to 
a  moderate  extent,  in  the  enlightenment  and 
training  they  afford,  in  the  refining  and  elevating 
influence  they  exert,  and  in  the  noble  ideals  they 
present,  they  are  fitting  the  children  to  enter  upon 
the  larger  life  which  opens  continuously  before 
them — the  reading  of  good  books,  including  the 
Bible;  the  study  of  history,  comprising  its  moral 
and  religious  phases  as  well  as  its  economic, 
social,  and  political;  the  appreciation  of  art;  the 
pursuit  of  scientific  knowledge;  and  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  virtues  and  graces  of  Christian  man- 
hood and  womanhood.  Rendering  this  funda- 
mental service,  their  work  is  of  priceless  worth. 
If  thereupon  the  Bible  and  all  the  great  spiritual 
interests  which  it  represents  do  not  make, 
through  other  avenues,  an  effective  appeal  to  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  our  American  youth,  the 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL     347 

fault  cannot  be  justly  laid  at  the  door  of  the 
public  school.7 

T  Two  or  three  references  may  be  given  for  recent  and  valu- 
able discussion  of  the  interests  of  moral  and  religious  education, 
(i)  Education  in  Religion  and  Morals,  by  Professor  George  A.  Coe 
(Revell,  publisher).  (a)  Moral  Education,  by  Edward  Howard 
Griggs  (N.  Y.:  B.  W.  Huebsch,  1904),  contains  extensive  bib- 
liography. (3)  Vol.  Ill  of  the  Proceedings  of  tlve  Religious  Edu- 
cation Association  (1905),  especially  pp.  21971  relating  to  the  pub- 
lic school*. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  HOME 

In  treating  of  the  Bible  in  the  home  we  are 
dealing  with  another  phase  of  the  great  problem 
of  moral  and  religious  education.  We  have  seen 
that,  on  account  of  its  surpassing  spiritual  merits, 
the  Bible  is  to  be  used  in  the  Sunday  school  as  the 
chief  instrument  of  spiritual  culture,  especially 
when  wielded  by  teachers  who  have  been  deeply 
quickened  by  its  influence  and  have  thoroughly 
learned  some  of  its  holy  lessons.  We  have  seen 
likewise  that,  on  account  of  its  literary  excellence, 
and  its  historic  interest,  as  well  as  its  lofty  spir- 
itual character,  it  is  entitled  to  a  place  in  the  pub- 
lic school,  side  by  side  with  the  literature,  his- 
tory, and  art  of  Greece  and  Rome;  although  this 
kind  of  study  should  be  sharply  distinguished 
from  its  employment  for  purposes  of  dogmatic  in- 
struction, which  is  not  compatible  with  the  genius 
of  our  American  public-school  system.  And  now 
in  seeking  to  determine  why  and  how  the  Bible 
should  be  used  in  the  home,  we  are  touching  upon 
the  educational  function  of  the  third  of  these 
principal  formative  institutions  in  our  modern 
civilization. 

When  we  consider  the  home  intelligently  we 
quickly  discover  that  it  is  of  fundamental  im- 
portance. The  family  is  the  primary  social  in- 
348 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  HOME  349 

stitution.  It  is  based  upon  natural  instincts  of 
the  deepest  and  strongest  character,  whose  roots 
are  in  the  body,  but  whose  flowers  and  fruits 
are  in  the  soul.  Marriage  and  parentage  blend 
physical  and  spiritual  interests  and  influences 
more  vitally  and  completely  than  any  other  hu- 
man relationship.  If,  therefore,  any  institution 
may  be  properly  called  sacred,  with  all  the  fulness 
of  meaning  that  such  an  adjective  ought  to  imply, 
it  is  the  family,  which  is  the  cornerstone  of  the 
school,  the  church,  the  state,  the  nation. 

Sociologists  everywhere  are  emphasizing  the 
importance  of  the  family;  indeed,  it  is  largely  to 
their  studies  that  we  are  indebted  for  a  more  en- 
lightened appreciation  of  this  primary  social 
group.  They  have  shown  us  that  society  is  not 
merely  a  formless  mass  of  individuals,  comming- 
ling promiscuously,  but  rather  a  vast  tissue  of 
families,  each  constituting  a  vital  knot  or  nerve- 
center  in  the  social  organism.  And  those  persons 
who  have  experience  in  the  practical  conduct  of 
charitable,  humane,  or  reformatory  work  are 
daily  corroborating  this  testimony.  One-half  of 
the  broken  lives  of  the  world  are  traceable  to 
bad  homes ;  and  we  can  do  little  for  the  improve- 
ment of  society  without  engaging  somehow  the 
co-operation  of  the  home.  The  best  thing  we  can 
do  for  children  is  to  make  good  homes  for  them, 
or  to  approximate  this  as  nearly  as  possible.  A 
good  home  is  the  best  moral  insurance  that  any- 


35°       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

body  can  have.  A  man  without  a  home  is  as 
badly  off  as  "the  man  without  a  country."  What- 
ever menaces  the  homes  of  a  nation  endangers 
every  true  interest  in  our  civilization.  What- 
ever promotes  the  security  and  happiness  of  the 
people's  homes  ministers  directly  to  national 
welfare  and  human  progress. 

The  educational  function  of  the  home  is  appar- 
ent as  soon  as  we  recognize  the  truth  that  educa- 
tion itself  is  a  vital  process,  whose  fruitage  is  the 
formation  of  character.  Now  when  you  reflect 
that  the  child  is  born  into  the  home — at  least, 
thank  Heaven!  the  great  majority  of  children 
are  thus  born — and  that  the  characteristic  ten- 
dencies which  are  to  prevail  throughout  the  re- 
mainder of  life  are  chiefly  determined  within  the 
first  three  or  four  years  of  that  child's  existence, 
while  the  influences  of  the  next  ten  or  twelve 
years  are  very  potent  and  lasting,  you  can  see  at 
once  that  the  home  really  contributes  more  than 
any  other  agency  to  the  education  of  the  child  for 
good  or  evil.  It  is  here  in  the  social  life  of  the 
family,  with  its  daily  experience  of  toil  and  re- 
sponsibility, care  and  devotion,  sympathy  and 
ministry,  sorrow  and  joy,  love,  hope,  fear, 
wrong-doing,  remorse,  forgiveness — here  in  this 
little  world  of  the  home,  half  of  earth  and  half  of 
heaven,  that  a  human  soul  is  started  on  its  eternal 
career;  and  while  the  baneful  influence  of  a  bad 
home  may  be  largely  overcome,  and  the  helpful 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  HOME  35 1 

influence  of  a  good  home  greatly  impaired,  by 
what  the  after  years  shall  bring,  yet  the  impres- 
sions produced  and  the  impulses  given  in  this 
earliest  of  all  schools  are  not  likely  ever  to  be 
wholly  outgrown.  After  all,  it  is  the  home,  more 
than  school  or  church  or  state,  that  molds 
character  in  our  boys  and  girls,  our  men  and 
women. 

Such  being  a  hint  of  the  social  significance  and 
the  educational  value  of  the  home,  we  are  ready 
to  inquire  a  little  more  closely  into  the  relations 
that  ought  to  subsist  between  the  Bible  and  the 
home. 

Immediately  I  offer  the  general  remark  that 
one  of  the  first  conditions  of  a  good  home  is  a 
good  spirit  in  the  hearts  of  its  inmates;  and  be- 
cause the  Bible  is  a  great  literature  that  breathes 
such  a  spirit  with  wonderful  power,  it  would 
seem  that  it  ought  to  have  a  large  place  of  real 
influence,  somehow,  in  every  household  whose 
members  want  their  family  life  to  be  honorable, 
pure,  and  happy. 

There  have  been  thousands  of  such  households 
that  have  thus  welcomed  the  Bible  and  received 
its  blessing.  After  its  translation  into  the  Eng- 
lish language  it  entered  the  homes  of  English- 
speaking  people,  along  with  Protestant  concep- 
tions of  religion,  and  was  read  with  all  the  dili- 
gence, ardor,  and  devoutness  which,  under  the 
conditions,  that  mighty  spiritual  awakening  pro- 


352       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

duced.  Each  home  where  earnest  believers  were 
found  became  a  kind  of  sanctuary,  domestic  wor- 
ship was  established,  and  into  the  life  of  no  peo- 
ple of  modern  times  have  the  ideas  and  spirit  of 
the  Bible  penetrated  so  deeply  as  into  that  of  the 
English  Puritans.  Some  of  these  came  to  Amer- 
ica, bringing  the  Bible,  with  their  grim  accept- 
ance of  it  and  their  inflexible  purpose  to  found  a 
state  upon  it;  and,  naturally,  its  dominant  in- 
fluence was  felt  everywhere.  The  custom  of 
fireside  worship,  with  morning  and  evening 
prayer  and  the  reading  of  Scripture,  was  fre- 
quent if  not  general,  and  has  descended  even  to 
very  recent  times.  Doubtless  you  and  I  could  tell 
of  households  in  which  these  devotional  exercises 
were  a  regular  feature,  or  where  they  were  at 
least  occasional ;  and  mayhap  there  are  still  a  few 
such  family  sanctuaries,  that  have  not  yielded  to 
the  rush  and  superficiality  of  these  more  stren- 
uous days,  but  maintain  the  hallowed  usage  of 
former  generations. 

As  a  rule,  however,  it  is  probably  true,  this 
ancient  custom  of  domestic  worship  is  rapidly  dis- 
appearing in  America.  Indeed,  it  is  not  easy  to 
see  how  it  can  survive  for  the  majority  of  our 
people,  until  we  learn  how  to  live  more  simply, 
leisurely,  and  wisely.  The  industrial  changes 
which  have  come  over  American  society,  the 
growth  of  cities  and  city  habits,  the  influx  of  peo- 
ple from  countries  with  alien  ideals  of  religious 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  HOME  353 

life,  the  rise  of  a  vast  educational  system,  the 
multitudinous  products  of  the  printing  press,  the 
increase  of  social  organizations  of  all  sorts,  and 
the  amplification  of  the  work  of  the  churches — 
these  and  other  influences  are  so  invading  and 
assailing  our  homes  as  to  leave  scant  opportunity 
for  fireside  prayer  and  the  reading  of  the  Bible, 
and  in  fact  are  destroying  thousands  of  homes 
altogether,  their  inmates  flying  to  the  club,  hotel, 
or  boarding-house.  Consequently  worship  has 
been  transferred  mainly  to  the  church  service, 
however  frequently  or  infrequently  attended ;  the 
study  of  the  Bible  has  been  handed  over  to  the 
Sunday  school,  which  is  not  equal  to  the  task  im- 
posed upon  it;  and  the  Sacred  Volume  no  longer 
exerts  its  potent  influence  directly  in  American 
households  generally,  as  it  did  in  the  days  of  our 
forefathers.  I  do  not  forget  the  very  large  num- 
ber of  homes  into  which  the  Sunday-school  chil- 
dren have  carried  the  Bible,  for  the  first  time  per- 
haps, nor  those  in  which  the  "Home  Depart- 
ment" of  the  Sunday  school  has  promoted  a  study 
of  the  Bible  every  week  by  parents  or  other 
adults.  Nevertheless,  what  I  have  said  remains 
substantially  true :  the  Bible  has  lost  the  place  of 
honor  and  power  which  it  once  had  in  the  ma- 
jority of  American  households;  at  least  this  is 
my  own  apprehension  of  the  existing  situation. 
Now  what  can  be  done  to  improve  matters? 
Something,  surely ;  much,  I  believe. 


354      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

i.  We  must  frankly  recognize  the  change 
which  has  taken  place,  and  acknowledge  that  in 
a  measure  it  is  a  wholesome  change.  By  this  I 
mean  that  the  Puritan  use  of  the  Bible,  while  sal- 
utary at  the  time,  was  too  serious,  intense,  over- 
strained to  last.  The  somber  character  of  the 
Englishman  took  naturally  to  the  solemn,  sad, 
stern  spirit  of  the  old  Hebrew  prophets;  and 
when  the  Bible  was  given  to  Englishmen  in  their 
native  tongue,  it  so  happened  that  they  needed 
just  such  a  resolute,  rectifying,  sanctifying  in- 
fluence. This  was  reinforced  by  the  Calvinistic 
theology,  and  also  by  the  severe  conflicts  and 
struggles  of  the  period,  not  less  for  those  who 
sought  these  shores  than  for  those  who  remained 
to  fight  in  Cromwell's  army.  But  the  austere 
mood  could  not  be  permanent,  the  rigor  of  Cal- 
vin's teaching  had  to  relax,  and  the  era  of  strife 
was  bound  to  give  way  to  a  season  of  peace  and 
prosperity.  The  age  of  the  Puritans  is  gone; 
new  conditions  have  arisen;  new  peoples  are 
dwelling  here ;  thought  has  broadened  and  molli- 
fied; new  ideals  of  social  life  and  religious  duty 
are  dawning;  and  the  spirit  which  pressed  the 
truths  of  the  Bible  into  the  very  blood  and  mar- 
row of  our  ancestors  is  no  longer  in  the  world  or 
the  Church  to  do  the  same  for  us.  A  larger, 
freer,  fairer,  happier  life  has  come  to  the  teeming 
multitudes  of  this  land ;  and  while  the  stupendous 
change  has  brought  its  incidental  losses  and  en- 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  HOME  355 

tails  its  great  risks,  yet  on  the  whole  it  has  been 
beneficial,  not  less  for  religion  than  for  other 
abiding  interests.  Our  first  duty  is  to  understand 
this  fact. 

2.  Meanwhile  the  Bible  has  become  vastly 
more  interesting  than  it  was  two  or  three  cen- 
turies ago.  Scholars  have  brought  a  great  light 
to  shed  upon  its  pages;  the  history  with  which 
it  is  connected  and  of  which  it  forms  a  part  has 
been  made  luminous,  so  that  it  reads  like  a  bril- 
liant fairy  tale;  and  its  spiritual  treasures  are 
now  seen  to  be  so  rich  and  varied  as  to  have  a 
blessing  for  every  man,  every  race,  every  nation 
that  may  be  willing  to  receive  them.  We  know 
more  about  the  Bible  than  our  ancestors  did,  even 
if  we  do  not  know  so  much  of  the  Bible ;  and  we 
need  only  to  bring  the  two  kinds  of  knowledge 
together,  in  order  to  enjoy  the  blessing  of  inspi- 
ration along  with  the  blessing  of  information. 
Let  us  not  forget  to  be  duly  thankful  for  the  enor- 
mous enrichment  of  our  intellectual  life  which 
modern  biblical  scholarship  has  rendered  possi- 
ble to  each  one  of  us,  and  which  we  have  to  use 
as  an  implement  for  the  cultivation  of  a  distinc- 
tively spiritual  interest  in  the  Bible  on  the  part  of 
the  ignorant  or  the  indifferent. 

3.  We  have  the  Bible  today  in  a  much  more 
convenient,  attractive,  and  serviceable  form  than 
previous  generations  have  possessed.  This  is 
really  a  great  gain.    The  fine  print  of  the  small 


356      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Bibles  of  an  earlier  day  gave  them  a  forbidding 
appearance,  and  one  wonders  how  it  was  possible 
to  read  them  by  candle  light ;  surely,  the  fact  that 
they  were  thus  read  attests  the  deep  interest 
which  Christian  people  had  in  the  message  of  the 
Scriptures.  But  now,  while  small  editions  of  the 
Bible,  with  necessarily  fine  print,  still  abound, 
there  are  so  many  other  editions,  in  large,  clear 
type,  having  the  subject-matter  suitably  para- 
graphed, with  page  headings,  references,  and 
footnotes,  that  one  need  not  experience  any  diffi- 
culty or  incur  a  large  expense  in  procuring  a  copy 
of  the  Sacred  Volume  which  can  be  read  with 
ease  and  pleasure.  Some  of  the  work  of  illus- 
trating, commenting,  and  explaining  is  overdone, 
perhaps,  so  that  the  Scripture  is  not  sufficiently 
allowed  to  speak  for  itself ;  but  such  is  not  always 
the  case.  For  general  uses,  the  American  Re- 
vision is  possibly  the  best;  but  Professor  Moul- 
ton's  "Modern  Reader's  Bible"  is  in  every  way 
admirable;  while  the  Oxford  editions  and  the 
Temple  Bible,  employing  the  Authorized  Ver- 
sion, as  well  as  the  English  Revision,  are  pre- 
sented in  convenient  and  attractive  style.  No  ex- 
cuse on  the  score  of  availability  remains,  there- 
fore, for  the  neglect  of  Bible  reading.  Every 
household  that  really  wants  a  copy  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  can  easily  obtain  it  in  these  favored 
times,  and  can  likewise  obtain  an  abundant 
supply  of  helpful  supplementary  material. 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  HOME  357 

4.  With  such  advantages,  the  urgent  need  is 
to  secure  the  interest  and  co-operation  of  parents. 
Here  arises  a  great  practical  difficulty,  at  least 
in  many  cases,  and  in  some  instances  the  ob- 
stacles may  be  insurmountable.  Thousands  of 
parents  are  too  busy  with  the  pitiless  struggle  for 
subsistence  to  find  either  time  or  strength,  to  say 
nothing  of  inclination,  for  Bible  reading  with 
their  children;  other  thousands  are  incompetent, 
intellectually  or  morally,  to  teach  their  children 
concerning  the  Bible  or  to  lead  them  in  reading 
and  studying  it;  while,  of  course,  others  still  are 
hostile  to  all  religious  matters.  But,  for  the  pres- 
ent, let  us  disregard  these  various  classes,  along 
with  others  that  might  be  mentioned.  Yet  there 
will  remain  great  numbers  of  parents  who  could 
find  time  and  strength  for  such  reading  and 
study,  and  who  would  be  competent  to  lead  their 
children  in  the  good  work.  The  immediate  prob- 
lem is,  How  to  enlist  these.  Some  of  them  are 
church  people;  others,  while  non-attendants,  are 
not  unfriendly  to  the  churches;  and  still  others, 
who  may  never  have  thought  about  Christianity 
at  all,  could  be  interested  if  wisely  and  kindly 
approached.    How  shall  they  be  reached? 

Evidently  here  is  a  field  for  the  Christian 
churches  to  cultivate;  and  one  of  the  very  first 
things  to  do  is  to  seek,  in  all  delicacy  and  kind- 
liness, to  impress  upon  parents  a  sense  of  their 
responsibility  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  their 


358       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

children  not  less  than  for  the  physical.  Too 
often  parents  imagine  that  they  do  their  whole 
duty  in  this  respect  by  handing  their  children 
over  to  the  Sunday  school,  supposing  rather 
vaguely  that  the  school  will  lead  them  into  the 
church  and  make  good  Christians  out  of  them. 
While  such  does,  indeed,  turn  out,  very  fre- 
[uently,  to  be  the  fortunate  result,  the  plan  quite 
s  frequently  miscarries.  The  work  of  the  Sunday 
.chool,  ordinarily,  is  woefully  inadequate;  and 
in  any  case  it  cannot  absolve  parents  from  their 
responsibility  for  the  highest  welfare  of  their 
offspring.  Pastors  and  teachers  need  to  learn, 
and  are  beginning  to  learn,  that  the  better  half 
of  their  work  for  the  young  consists  in  deepening 
and  strengthening  the  spiritual  life  of  the  home. 
This  is  to  be  done  in  two  ways:  first,  by  in- 
creasing, rather  than  relieving,  the  sense  of  pa- 
rental responsibility;  and,  second,  by  carrying 
into  the  home  the  necessary  practical  help — sym- 
pathy, counsel,  guidance,  and  copious  material. 
Pastors  and  teachers  must  go  to  parents  and  say. 
substantially:  "We  are  sincerely  interested  in 
the  moral  and  religious  education  of  your  chil- 
dren; but  we  do  not  think  it  is  right  for  us  to 
seek  to  take  this  vital,  sacred,  delicate  work  out 
of  your  hands :  for  you  are  primarily  responsible 
for  their  spiritual  welfare,  and  no  other  agency 
can  properly  supplant  the  family  relationship. 
But  we  want  to  help  you  in  any  and  every  pos- 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  HOME  359 

sible  way.  What  can  we  do  for  you?  Let  us 
send  you  an  abundance  of  good  materials,  let  us 
counsel  with  you,  and  let  us  together — family 
and  church — do  all  we  can  to  bring  your  chil- 
dren up  to  an  enlightened,  resolute,  noble  spirit- 
ual life  and  character!"  Thus,  in  addition  to 
bringing  the  children  to  the  Sunday  school  and 
the  church,  there  must  be  carried  from  this  reli- 
gious center  a  strong,  steady  influence  to  enrich 
the  spiritual  life  of  the  family;  and  no  ministry 
which  the  churches  can  perform  in  these  days 
can  be  more  salutary  or  promising. 

Beginning  on  this  basis,  in  this  way,  the  Bible 
will  come  immediately  into  use  as  the  one  best 
instrument  to  serve  the  great  end  thus  contem- 
plated. Pastors,  teachers,  parents,  and  children 
will  all  turn  at  once  to  the  moral  and  religious 
treasures  contained  in  this  spiritual  storehouse. 
Then  will  come  straightway  the  need  of  some 
plain,  simple  guide  to  the  right  use  of  the  Bible 
— something,  very  primary  perhaps,  to  help  the 
parents  understand  what  the  Bible  really  is,  why 
it  should  be  read  and  studied,  how  interesting  it 
may  become,  and  just  how  to  begin  with  it.  For 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  many  parents  today 
do  not  really  know  what  to  do  with  the  Bible; 
they  themselves  are  not  familiar  with  its  con- 
tents; and  the  rumors  of  the  new  views  regard- 
ing it  merely  perplex  them.  Therefore  they  need 
primary  instruction  and  guidance.    It  is  not  best 


360       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

to  read  the  Bible  through  by  course,  and  it  cer- 
tainly is  not  profitable  to  try  to  read  it  all,  es- 
pecially to  the  young:  how,  then,  shall  one 
proceed  ? 

Fortunately,  at  this  point,  we  now  have  some 
helpful  selections  from  the  abundant  and  varied 
materials  in  the  Scriptures.  Two  works  already 
mentioned  are  very  valuable,  viz. :  The  Bible  for 
Children,  published  by  the  Century  Company, 
New  York;  and  Walter  L.  Sheldon's  The  Old 
Testament  Bible  Stories,  issued  by  W.  M.  Welch 
and  Company,  Chicago,  the  subject-matter  in  the 
latter  work  being  somewhat  paraphrased.  Let 
parents  take  such  volumes  as  these  and  read  to 
their  children,  even  at  six  or  eight  years  of  age, 
and  then  read  with  them;  and  later,  but  still  at 
an  early  period,  read  directly  from  the  Bible 
itself — reading,  parents  and  children  together, 
very  freely  and  very  copiously,  and  simply  talk- 
ing matters  over  without  much  preaching  or 
didacticism.  Let  the  Scriptures  be  read,  and  let 
them  make  their  own  impression.  Such  is  a  bare 
hint  of  a  natural,  wise  method  of  procedure ;  and 
the  counsel  thus  given  has  grown  out  of  experi- 
ence in  just  this  method. 

In  a  previous  chapter  of  this  work  Professor 
Walter  F.  Adeney's  Hozv  to  Read  the  Bible  has 
been  warmly  commended;  and  justly  so.  But 
some  day  we  shall  have  a  "Primary  Guide  to  the 
Bible,"  for  parents  and  teachers,  which  shall  be 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  HOME  361 

even  more  simple,  which  shall  give  specific  direc- 
tions, indicate  courses  of  readings  from  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  bring  the  great  spiritual  influence  of 
the  Bible  into  more  natural  and  vital  contact  with 
the  life  of  today  than  the  older  conceptions  and 
methods  permitted.1  Meanwhile,  let  pastors  help 
their  people  to  new  and  fresh  ways  of  Bible  read- 
ing, especially  in  the  family  circle;  and  in  time 
there  will  result  a  spiritually  enriched  home  life 
that  will  prove  a  baptism  of  the  nation. 

5.  One  further  counsel  remains  to  crown  all 
that  has  been  said.  It  is  that  the  most  vital  and 
valuable  influence  in  connection  with  the  Bible  in 
the  home  is  the  sincere  desire  and  effort  to  trans- 
late its  great  message  into  life.  The  living  ex- 
emplification of  the  best  principles  and  spirit  ex- 
pressed in  the  Bible,  the  humble,  honest  attempt 
to  shape  one's  own  conduct  and  character  by 
them,  is  the  only  sure  way  of  realizing  the  bless- 
ings which  the  Scriptures  can  confer,  and  is  the 
most    potent    means    of    commending    them    to 

1  Since  the  foregoing  was  written,  there  has  come  to  hand  An 
Introduction  to  the  Bible  for  Teachers  of  Children,  by  Georgia 
Louise  Chamberlin  (University  of  Chicago  Press).  The  little 
volume,  of  206  pages,  admirably  fulfils  the  requirements  indi- 
cated above.  It  is  the  outgrowth  of  the  new  learning  regarding  the 
Bible,  and  of  practical  experience  in  teaching  young  children.  It 
gives  parents  and  teachers  very  clearly  the  right  point  of  view  to 
start  with;  and  then  it  furnishes  a  simple,  fruitful  scheme  of 
lessons,  with  specific  directions  and  suggestions,  which  can  scarcely 
fail  to  prove  as  delightful  as  they  must  be  instructive  to  old  and 
young  alike.  Taking  this  Introduction  in  connection  with  Professor 
Adeney's  work,  any  thoughtful  parent  or  teacher  may  be  sure  of 
finding  abundant  profit  in  the  new  kind  of  study  of  the  Bible 
which   has  been   earnestly   recommended   in  these   pages. 


362       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

others.  They  themselves  tend  directly  to  awaken 
such  a  desire,  to  produce  such  an  effort;  yet  it  is 
possible  to  read  them  very  diligently,  and  fla- 
grantly to  disregard  their  holy  teachings.  If  this 
be  done  by  parents,  the  children  will  hardly  be 
drawn  to  love  the  Bible.  But  if,  on  the  contrary, 
parents  do  evidently  and  sincerely  try  to  live  the 
noble,  righteous,  merciful  life  which  the  great 
spirit  of  the  Bible  promotes,  the  young  people 
who  grow  up  in  daily  contact  with  such  an  ex- 
ample cannot  fail  to  perceive  the  sources  of  this 
high  influence.  The  Bible  will  grow  dear  to  them 
as  the  fountain  of  life-giving  waters,  whose  re- 
freshing, cleansing,  sustaining  power  they  have 
seen  demonstrated  in  the  lives  of  their  parents, 
amid  the  varied  experiences  of  joy  and  sorrow, 
struggle  and  triumph,  which  come  more  or  less  to 
every  household.  Nothing  can  take  the  place 
of  the  living  exemplification  of  the  principles  and 
spirit  of  true  morality  and  religion — no  precepts, 
no  rites  and  ceremonies,  no  dogmas  and  institu- 
tions. The  power  of  the  Bible  to  beget  an  hon- 
est effort  toward  such  an  exemplification  is  its 
greatest  power;  and  the  atmosphere  which  is 
thus  created  in  a  home  is  the  most  beautiful, 
blessed,  and  far-reaching  influence  that  may 
serve  to  shape  the  development  of  childhood  in  a 
spiritual  direction. 

The  next  forward  step  in  moral  and  religious 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  HOME  363 

education  should  be — let  us  trust  that  it  will  be 
— to  try  to  help  the  home  to  fulfil  its  true  func- 
tion in  this  respect.  Perhaps  the  largest  unculti- 
vated field  lying  before  the  churches  of  America 
is  the  field  of  spiritual  home-making.  Every 
church  might  well  maintain  a  ministry  for  this 
particular  service,  might  well  employ,  at  a  good 
salary,  an  educated  woman,  with  the  heart  of  a 
consecrated  pastor  and  the  training  of  a  high- 
grade  teacher,  to  go  into  each  and  every  home  on 
this  very  errand,  offering  intelligent  aid  to  the 
parents  in  the  matter  of  Bible  reading  or  study, 
carrying  helpful  books,  giving  sympathetic  coun- 
sel, yet  respecting  (as  a  true  pastor  would  do) 
all  the  delicate  privacies  of  the  household,  and 
aiming  only  to  enlighten  and  enrich  the  spiritual 
life  of  the  family.  Surely,  if  such  a  work  could 
be  done  in  a  million  homes  in  America — and  why 
not  in  ten  million  ? — the  moral  problems  that  now 
baffle  us  would  be  in  a  fair  way  of  solution  within 
another  generation.  Is  it  possible  that  here  lies 
the  grandest  opportunity  of  the  Christian 
churches  of  our  country  today?  And  may  not 
educators  and  ministers,  with  intelligent  parents 
generally,  well  counsel  together  with  reference  to 
adequate  measures  for  meeting  this  great  need? 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  BIBLE  AND  PERSONAL  CULTURE 

The  new  appreciation  of  the  Bible  which  has 
been  portrayed  in  the  preceding  chapters  may 
fitly  culminate  in  a  fresh  estimate  of  this  great 
literature  as  a  means  of  personal  culture.  How 
is  it  related  to  life  in  its  broadest  and  best  devel- 
opment? Is  it  archaic,  anachronistic,  out  of 
touch  with  the  real  interests  of  the  modern 
world?  Or,  on  the  contrary,  has  it  a  message, 
a  spirit,  a  power  of  enduring  charm  and  vitality  ? 
If  so,  how  may  the  individual  avail  himself  of 
the  secret  which  it  waits  to  yield  for  the  enrich- 
ment and  glorification  of  his  soul  ? 

It  all  comes  to  this  issue  at  last.  We  are 
personal  beings,  and  the  personal  factor  in  the 
equation  is  determinative  here  as  elsewhere. 
What  you  and  I  care  about  the  Bible,  what  we 
propose  to  do  with  it,  and  what  it  will  do  for 
us  if  we  cherish  it  and  seek  its  blessing — this  is 
the  pivotal  question  in  the  whole  study  which  we 
have  been  pursuing.  Like  all  other  treasures, 
whether  of  learning  or  of  wealth,  the  spiritual 
riches  of  the  Bible  can  neither  become  ours  nor 
be  given  by  us  to  others  until  we  resolve,  each  for 
himself,  to  lay  hold  of  them  and  acquire  them 
by  rightful  conquest.  We  must  pay  a  price  for 
them  in  honest  effort,  study,  assimilative  appro- 

364 


THE  BIBLE  AND  PERSONAL  CULTURE    365 

priation.  It  is  the  value  of  the  Bible  to  you  and 
me  that  most  concerns  you  and  me;  and  it  is 
what  you  and  I  need  to  do  in  order  to  extract 
that  value  that  ought  to  command  our  keenest 
attention. 

I  shall  speak  of  culture  in  a  comprehensive 
way,  as  implying  generally  what  we  mean  by  the 
enlightenment,  refinement,  and  discipline  of  the 
human  spirit.  Matthew  Arnold's  definition  of 
culture  as  "knowing  the  best  that  has  been 
thought  and  said  in  the  world,"  though  a  liberal 
one,  seems  to  me  inadequate;  while  his  other  re- 
mark, that  "culture  is  reading,  but  reading  with 
a  purpose  to  guide  it,  and  with  system,"  1  appears 
to  give  a  still  narrower  conception,  although  he 
does  well  to  insist  upon  the  specific  idea  that  "true 
culture  implies  not  only  knowledge,  but  right  tact 
and  justness  of  judgment,  forming  themselves  by 
and  with  knowledge."  2  A  better  account  of  cul- 
ture is  contained  in  the  words  of  Principal  J.  C. 
Shairp : 

When  applied  to  the  human  being,  it  means,  I  sup- 
pose, the  "educing  or  drawing  forth  all  that  is  potentially 
in  a  man,"  the  training  all  the  energies  and  capacities  of 
his  being  to  the  highest  pitch,  and  directing  them  to  their 

true   ends But  culture   is  not   a  product  of  mere 

study.  Learning  may  be  got  from  books,  but  not  culture. 
It  is  a  more  living  process,  and  requires  that  the  student 
shall  at  times  close  his  books,  leave  his  solitary  room, 
and  mingle  with  his  fellow-men.    He  must  seek  the  inter- 

1  Literature  and  Dogma,  p.  xxvii. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  xxvi. 


366       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

course  of  living  hearts  as  well  as  of  dead  books — especi- 
ally the  companionship  of  those  of  his  own  contempo- 
raries whose  minds  and  characters  are  fitted  to  instruct, 
elevate  and  sweeten  his  own.  Another  thing  required  is 
the  discipline  which  must  be  carried  on  by  each  man  in 
himself,  the  learning  of  self-control,  the  forming  of  habits, 
the  effort  to  overcome  what  is  evil  and  to  strengthen 
what  is  good  in  his  own  nature.8 

I  like  this  view  of  culture  because  it  presents 
the  two  aspects  which  I  conceive  that  real  cul- 
ture must  always  exhibit — influence  from  others, 
and  self-exertion;  the  essential  result  of  which  is 
character,  formed  upon  the  material  afforded  by 
nature,  and  consisting  of  intelligence,  beauty,  vir- 
tue, and  strength. 

Now  if  this  conception  is  a  just  one,  as  I  think 
it  is,  there  ought  to  be  no  difficulty  in  showing 
how  the  Bible  contributes  to  personal  culture, 
that  is,  to  the  enlightenment,  refinement  and 
discipline  of  the  human  spirit. 

I.  It  contributes  to  the  intellectual  element  in 
culture  in  several  important  ways. 

i.  It  gives  the  reader  who  familiarizes  him- 
self with  its  pages  an  increase  of  knowledge  and 
an  enlargement  of  thought.  Taking  up  the  Bible 
simply  as  literature,  and  perusing  it,  not  for  pur- 
poses of  study  or  criticism,  but  for  instruction 
and  enjoyment,  just  as  one  might  read  Homer  or 
Shakespeare — naturally,  receptively,  sympatheti- 
cally— one  cannot  fail  to  acquire,  in  the  course 
of  years,  a  very  considerable  amount  of  valuable 

8  Culture  and  Religion,  pp.    19,  20. 


THE  BIBLE  AND  PERSONAL  CULTURE    367 

information ;  not  merely  that  curious  information 
about  the  land,  climate,  plants  and  animals  of 
Palestine  which  some  minds  like  to  gather,  but 
rather  a  knowledge  of  the  history  of  nations  and 
of  ancient  civilizations,  of  the  character  of  differ- 
ent peoples,  of  the  dominant  ideas  and  the  dis- 
tinctive achievements  of  those  great  races  that 
filled  the  world  with  power  and  glory  in  the  long 
ago.  This,  assuredly,  is  a  part  of  true  culture ;  it 
makes  one  intelligent  respecting  some  of  the  chief 
events  of  the  past,  and  it  broadens  one's  thought 
of  human  nature  and  the  vast  stage  on  which  the 
conspicuous  figures  of  antiquity  played  their  var- 
ious roles.  Thus  Egypt,  Chaldea,  Assyria,  Baby- 
lonia, Media,  Persia,  Syria,  Phoenicia,  Mace- 
donia, Greece,  and  Rome,  along  with  Israel  and 
Arabia,  come  before  the  reader,  grow  distinct, 
and  present  many  a  chapter  of  thrilling  interest 
in  the  early  history  of  mankind.  Nor  can  a 
thoughtful  person  stop  here.  Because  the  Bible 
makes  him  know  something  of  the  beginnings  of 
Christianity,  he  is  led  on  to  learn  something  of 
its  subsequent  fortunes;  and  so  he  is  inevitably 
brought  to  acquaint  himself,  at  least  in  outline, 
with  the  decline  and  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
the  rise  of  European  nations,  and  those  stupen- 
dous struggles  of  western  Christendom  which 
make  up  the  fascinating,  impressive  story  of  the 
last  sixteen  hundred  years.  Surely,  if  the  Bible 
student  gets  even  a  glimpse  of  such  a  grand  pan- 


368      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

orama,  he  obtains  a  wider  view  than  any  other 
literature  can  afford ;  and  no  one  can  read  under- 
standingly  any  other  literature  that  deals  with 
it  if  he  be  wholly  ignorant  of  the  Bible.  The 
Bible  lies  at  the  heart  of  history,  and  the  life- 
blood  of  nations  has  surged  through  it.  There- 
fore to  know  the  Bible  is  to  know*  or  to  be  led 
to  know,  the  inmost  meaning  of  history. 

2.  The  Bible  also  imparts  a  degree  of  eleva- 
tion to  the  mind  which  gives  dignity  to  culture, 
and  a  degree  of  insight  which  interprets  knowl- 
edge and  makes  culture  a  joy.  The  loftiness  of 
the  themes  with  which  it  is  occupied,  the  state- 
liness  of  its  language,  and  the  penetration  of  the 
views  of  life  and  character  which  it  presents  con- 
spire to  lift  the  thought  of  the  reader  to  a  high 
plane,  and  to  reveal  the  inner  significance  of  hu- 
man conduct  and  national  developments.  "I  must 
confess  to  you,"  said  Rousseau,  "that  the  ma- 
jesty of  the  Scriptures  astonishes  me;  the  holiness 
of  the  Evangelists  speaks  to  my  heart  and  has 
such  striking  characters  of  truth,  and  is,  more- 
over, so  perfectly  inimitable,  that  if  it  had  been 
the  invention  of  men,  the  inventors  would  be 
greater  than  the  greatest  heroes."  4  And  Goethe 
wrote:  "When,  in  my  youth,  my  imagination, 
ever  active,  bore  me  away,  now  hither,  now 
thither,  and  when  all  this  blending  of  history 
and  fable,  of  mythology  and  religion,  threatened 
to  unsettle  my  mind,  gladly  then  did  I  flee  to- 

*  Quoted  by  Farrar  in  The  Bible:  Its  Meaning  and  Supremacy. 

1 


THE  BIBLE  AND  PERSONAL  CULTURE    369 

ward  those  eastern  countries.  I  buried  myself 
in  the  first  books  of  Moses,  and  there,  amidst 
those  wandering  tribes,  I  found  myself  at  once  in 
the  grandest  of  solitudes  and  in  the  grandest  of 
societies."  8  Likewise  Heinrich  Heine  exclaimed : 
"What  a  book!  Vast  and  wide  as  the  world! 
rooted  in  the  abysses  of  creation,  and  towering 
up  beyond  the  blue  secrets  of  heaven!  Sunrise 
and  sunset,  birth  and  death,  promise  and  fulfil- 
ment, the  whole  drama  of  Humanity  are  all  in 
this  book !"  6  Surely,  a  literature  that  can  so 
exalt  the  mind,  and  so  clarify  and  deepen  its  in- 
sight, as  to  draw  forth  such  judgments  from 
such  men  is  of  sufficient  grandeur  and  value  to 
be  most  highly  esteemed  merely  as  a  means  of 
intellectual  culture. 

II.  Not  less  important  is  the  contribution  of 
the  Bible  to  the  moral  side  of  culture. 

1.  The  strongly  ethical  quality  that  pervades 
the  Scriptures  pours  a  tide  of  moral  influence 
over  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  reader  which 
awakens,  vivifies,  and  purifies  all  his  moral  im- 
pulses. Because  the  writers  of  the  Bible  were  so 
powerfully  possessed  by  the  ethical  spirit,  their 
works  appeal  to  the  deepest  moral  instincts  in 
us;  their  portrayal  of  character  in  the  various 
personages  of  whom  they  make  mention,  and 
their  interpretation  of  the  fortunes  of  their  na- 
tion, are  nearly  always  profoundly  ethical;  and 

8  Quoted  by  Farrar,  op.  cit. 
•Ibid. 


37o      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

we  cannot  read  their  words,  whether  of  narra- 
tive or  of  prophecy  or  of  poetry,  without  experi- 
encing a  stir  of  conscience,  a  quickening  of  the 
sense  of  right  and  wrong,  which  brings  us  to  a 
clearer  moral  consciousness  than  we  had  before, 
and  makes  us  feel  that  righteousness  and  wicked- 
ness are  great,  solemn  realities  in  human  life. 
Consequently  everywhere  the  Bible  goes  among 
men  it  produces,  if  they  be  led  to  read  it,  a  tre- 
mendous moral  impression, — an  awakenment, 
vivification,  and  purification  of  the  moral  sense 
that  is  the  most  rectifying  influence  which  has 
ever  been  exerted  upon  individuals  or  nations. 
What  Mr.  Walter  L.  Sheldon  says  of  the  value 
of  the  Bible  in  this  respect,  with  reference  to  the 
moral  education  of  children,  is  applicable  to  all 
childlike  races  and  to  mankind  in  general : 

The  beauty  of  the  Bible  tales  for  little  ones  is  that 
the  moral  points  are  so  pronounced.  The  lessons  come 
out  in  large  letters  or  heavy  type  and  can  be  seen  almost 

without  comment These  tales  emphasize  on  a  large 

scale  the  awfulness  of  the  vices  or  of  the  evil  passions. 
It  is  the  evil  of  pride,  for  instance,  which  is  brought  out 
over  and  over  again;  or  the  iniquity  of  stealing;  or  the 
baseness  of  being  untrue  to  one's  home  or  family.  In  this 
way  at  the  very  outset,  before  we  have  gone  into  any 
subtle  analysis,  we  can  make  the  little  ones  feel  the  horror 
of  evil  conduct,  turning  their  minds  with  a  revulsion 
against  stealing  or  murder,  against  jealousy,  envy,  pride, 
wilfulness  and  disobedience.  Respect  for  life  and  prop- 
erty, regard  for  parents,  loyalty  to  the  family,  submis- 
sion to  the  law  of  the  State — these  are  the  virtues  which 
stand  out  so  boldly  in  the  Old  Testament.7 

7  An  Ethical  Sunday  School,  pp.  44,  45. 


THE  BIBLE  AND  PERSONAL  CULTURE     37 1 

2.  But  not  only  does  the  Bible  thus  impress 
and  awaken  the  soul  morally,  it  also  moves  the 
will  and  leads  to  action.  Nature  gives  every  one 
of  us  the  moral  sense,  but  in  many  men  it  is 
feeble,  and  in  all  it  is  a  long  time  in  coming  to  its 
rightful  supremacy;  the  will  is  not  easily 
brought  into  submission  to  the  august  authority 
of  conscience.  Now  the  Bible  not  only  educates 
the  conscience  by  quickening,  developing,  and 
strengthening  it;  it  also  educates  the  will  by 
touching  the  motives,  inspiring  self-exertion, 
guiding  action,  and  training  the  powers  of  body 
and  mind  to  be  in  subjection  to  the  law  of  right- 
eousness engraved  upon  the  tablets  of  the  soul. 
The  Bible  has  been  called  a  literature  of  power. 
It  is  such  because  it  moves  us,  sways  us, 
prompts,  restrains,  urges,  checks,  guides,  and 
sustains  us  in  our  efforts  to  realize  an  ideal  ex- 
cellence which  it  keeps  before  us.  It  shows  us 
the  way  of  duty,  it  reinforces  our  instinctive  ap- 
prehension of  its  solemn  mandate,  and  it  pre- 
sents the  highest  considerations  which  may  incite 
us  to  noble  endeavor  after  worthy  ends.  And, 
surely,  there  can  be  no  true  culture  that  does  not 
go  beyond  mere  contemplation,  and  issue  in  con- 
duct and  character.  I  cannot  regard  him  as 
justly  entitled  to  be  called  a  cultivated  man  in 
whom  one  whole  side  of  his  nature  is  barren. 
Unless  the  energies  of  one's  being  produce,  in 
some  degree,  the  fair  fruits  of  good  deeds,  the 


372       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

noblest  of  all  qualities,  virtue,  I  think  enlighten- 
ment and  refinement  fall  very  far  short  of  hav- 
ing their  perfect  work.  And  whoever  allows 
this  element  its  due  place  in  culture  will  easily 
agree  with  Matthew  Arnold  in  putting  a  high 
estimate  upon  the  Bible  as  a  means  of  moral  edu- 
cation. "As  well  imagine  a  man,"  says  he,  "with 
a  sense  for  sculpture  not  cultivating  it  by  the 
help  of  the  remains  of  Greek  art,  and  a  man  with 
a  sense  for  poetry  not  cultivating  it  by  the  help 
of  Homer  and  Shakespeare,  as  a  man  with  a 
sense  for  conduct  not  cultivating  it  by  the  help 
of  the  Bible."  8 

III.  Another  element  in  culture  to  which  the 
Bible  renders  a  potent  ministry  is  the  distinc- 
tively religious.  We  are  in  the  habit  of  separat- 
ing morality  and  religion,  and  in  a  measure  this 
is  permissible  and  perhaps  needful.  Yet  the 
Bible  does  not  divorce  them,  but  rather  unites 
them;  and  the  result  is  that  it  gives  the  world  an 
ethical  religion  or  a  religious  morality,  to  the 
enormous  advantage  of  all  the  interests  con- 
cerned. But,  speaking  here  of  religion  distinc- 
tively, emphasizing  its  God-ward  side,  I  affirm, 
and  probably  no  one  would  deny,  that  the  Bible 
brings  us  the  greatest  help  in  this  respect  to 
be  found  in  all  literature. 

i.  It  stimulates  and  arouses  the  religious  in- 
stinct that  is  native  to  every  human  soul.  It  is 
so  full  of  the  religious  spirit — deep,  strong,  ex- 

8  Quoted  by  Farrar,  op.  cit. 


THE  BIBLE  AND  PERSONAL  CULTURE    373 

alted — that  no  man  can  read  its  pages  for  an 
hour  without  awakening  the  religious  sentiment 
from  its  too  constant  slumber,  and  taking  new 
thought  for  divine  things,  and  feeling  that  he  is 
a  subject  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  whose  holy 
laws  it  is  his  business  to  obey.  It  quickens  and 
develops,  in  at  least  some  slight  degree,  in  every 
soul  that  receives  its  great  teachings,  the  beauti- 
ful qualities  of  reverence,  aspiration,  trust,  hope, 
courage,  along  with  humility,  conviction  of  sin, 
penitence,  a  yearning  for  pardon  and  inner  peace, 
and  a  gracious  resignation  to  the  will  of  Heaven 
that  means,  not  a  weak  surrender  or  a  Stoic 
fortitude,  but  a  calm  patience,  a  brave  confi- 
dence, and  an  unshaken  strength  in  the  heart. 
Who  can  point  to  any  other  writings  which  pro- 
duce such  an  effect  to  so  great  an  extent?  The 
whole  world  of  literature  does  not  contain  them; 
and  were  this  "river  of  the  water  of  life"  with- 
drawn, our  souls  would  be  quickly  parched  and 
the  religious  beauty  of  our  civilization  would 
soon  vanish. 

2.  The  Bible  also  spiritualizes  religion.  Be- 
ginning with  crude,  anthropomorphic  ideas  of 
God,  in  the  midst  of  polytheistic  teachings,  the 
stream  of  this  literature  flows  along  with  the 
course  of  national  development,  and  purifies  it- 
self by  dropping  its  sediment  of  gross  material- 
ism, until  in  the  New  Testament — yes,  even  quite 
early  in  the  Old  Testament — it  presents  us  with 


374       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

a  pure  monotheism,  and  inculcates  a  worship 
that  is  mainly  of  the  heart  and  life.  To  be  sure, 
rites  and  ceremonies,  temples  and  sacrifices,  laws 
and  ordinances  are  conspicuous,  and  at  first  may 
seem  to  be  all-important;  yet  as  one  reads  atten- 
tively and  becomes  familiar  with  the  ruling  ideas 
in  this  great  literature,  he  finds  that,  beneath  and 
behind  all  ceremonial  requirements,  the  one  thing 
demanded  of  the  individual  and  the  nation  is 
purity  of  heart  and  uprightness  of  life.  Obla- 
tions are  vain  without  this,  even  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament; and  in  the  New  Testament  external 
forms  fall  into  complete  subordination,  and  re- 
ligion is  lifted  into  a  region  of  wonderful  vital- 
ity, freedom,  and  inspiring  power.  Nowhere 
among  all  the  shrines,  cults,  and  sacred  scrip- 
tures of  mankind  can  we  find  loftier  spiritual 
conceptions  of  the  Divine  Government,  or 
stronger  influences  making  for  righteousness 
and  true  holiness,  or  a  sweeter  spirit  of  grace 
and  truth,  of  majesty  and  love,  than  we  see  and 
feel  emanating  from  this  Book  of  books.  It  is 
the  most  potent  instrument  we  possess  for  the 
spiritualization  of  religion,  the  spiritualization 
of  civilization,  and  the  ultimate  spiritualization 
of  the  world. 

IV.  There  is  still  one  other  element  of  cul- 
ture to  which  I  must  allude  as  benefiting  by  the 
influence  of  the  Bible.  I  refer  to  what  I  may  call 
self-discipline  and  social  service.  The  Bible 
teaches  the  great,  twofold  lesson  of  self-control 


THE  BIBLE  AND  PERSONAL  CULTURE    375 

and  altruism.  It  makes  a  man  ashamed  of  his 
sins;  brings  him  to  his  knees  in  penitence  and 
prayer;  and  then  lifts  him  up  and  starts  him  out 
to  try  to  be  more  worthy  of  himself  by  curbing 
his  evil  propensities,  by  compelling  his  conduct, 
speech,  and  thoughts  into  the  way  of  God's  com- 
mandments, and  by  showing  him  the  highest 
ideal  of  character  he  has  ever  seen.  Then  it 
drives  home  into  his  moral  consciousness  the 
duty  of  consideration  for  others — the  truth  that 
"no  man  liveth  to  himself  and  no  man  dieth  to 
himself;"  that  the  claims  of  society  upon  every 
man  are  solemn  and  divine  claims,  not  to  be  put 
aside;  that  justice,  mercy,  and  peace  are  obliga- 
tions as  holy  as  those  of  worship — that,  in  short, 
"all  the  law  is  fulfilled  in  one  word,  even  in  this, 
Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself." 

By  inculcating  such  ideas  and  principles  the 
Bible  tends  to  help  men  to  self-government,  self- 
direction,  self-attainment,  and  at  the  same  time 
helps  them  to  devote  themselves  to  every  noble 
interest  or  enterprise  concerning  the  betterment 
of  the  world.  As  a  result  strong  characters  are 
produced,  and  society  is  continually  improved. 
Men  who  are  free,  and  yet  obedient  to  the  divine 
behest,  spring  up;  and  they,  living  in  the 
world  yet  above  it,  promote  every  effort  to  lift 
the  world  to  a  higher  plane.  Thus  education, 
philanthropy,  reform,  missions,  and  all  other  hu- 
manitarian works  are  legitimate  fruits  of  the  dis- 


376       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

ciplining,  altruistic  influence  of  the  Bible  upon 
men's  hearts.  Assuredly  this  is  culture  for  the 
individual  and  culture  for  society. 

No  thought  has  been  more  frequently  or  for- 
cibly expressed  in  college  commencement  ser- 
mons and  orations,  in  recent  years,  than  that  of 
the  duty  of  educated  men  to  engage  in  social 
service.  They  have  been  urged  to  devote  their 
talents  and  learning  to  the  improvement  of  poli- 
tics, the  better  administration  of  the  civil  service, 
municipal  reform,  the  wise  relief  of  the  poor, 
and  the  uplift  of  the  lowly  in  general.  Such  an 
unselfish  ministry  is  but  a  proper  return  to  so- 
ciety at  large  for  the  advantages  which  educated 
young  people  have  received;  and  the  fate  of 
many  of  the  highest  interests  of  our  present  civ- 
ilization depends  upon  the  response  which  the 
intelligent,  disciplined,  favored  classes  in  Ameri- 
can society  shall  make  to  this  great  demand. 
But  how  shall  such  classes  find  adequate  motive 
for  all  this?  What  shall  keep  culture  from  be- 
coming selfish?  Enlightenment  and  refinement 
alone  will  not  do  this;  as  witness  the  experience 
of  Greece.  It  is  doubtful,  too,  whether  modern 
sociology,  with  all  its  economic  and  political  im- 
plications and  considerations,  will  suffice  for  so 
exalted  an  aim  as  must  be  cherished  by  those 
who  would  redeem  the  world  from  its  bondage 
to  evil.  At  any  rate,  it  is  certain  that  all  other 
inducements  and  promptings  in  this  direction  are 


THE  BIBLE  AND  PERSONAL  CULTURE    377 

powerfully  reinforced  by  the  noble  moral,  reli- 
gious, and  humanitarian  appeals  which  the  Bible 
makes  to  the  souls  of  men.  Its  supreme  teach- 
ing that  God  is  not  only  righteous  but  merciful, 
and  requires  both  righteousness  and  mercy  of  his 
children,  glows  upon  almost  every  page;  and 
when  it  culminates  in  the  two  great  command- 
ments given  by  Jesus,  love  to  God  and  love  to 
man,  as  the  sum  and  substance  of  all  true  moral- 
ity and  all  vital  religion,  we  begin  to  get  a  new 
conception  of  the  social  ought,  and  can  under- 
stand Paul's  word:  "We  then  that  are  strong 
ought  to  bear  the  infirmities  of  the  weak,  and 
not  to  please  ourselves."  9  Thus  the  sense  of  so- 
cial sympathy  and  the  spirit  of  kindness,  which 
are  rooted  in  the  very  nature  of  the  soul,  are 
supplemented  and  strengthened  by  the  highest 
ethical  and  religious  injunctions,  so  that  a  man 
feels  himself  called  of  God  to  spend  and  be  spent 
in  the  helpful  service  of  his  needy  fellow-men. 
Here,  therefore,  is  motive,  ample  and  strong,  for 
the  most  unselfish,  heroic,  consecrated  labor  that 
any  man,  however  gifted,  can  perform.  Who 
can  measure  the  value  of  such  high  sanctions, 
reinforcing  all  other  claims,  appeals,  and  con- 
siderations, prompting  talented  people  to  throw 
themselves  into  the  vast  enterprise  of  a  world's 
true  salvation?  And  how  shall  we  give  social 
effect  to  all  the  learning  of  these  days,  to  all  the 
favors  enjoyed  by  the  educated  classes,  unless 

•Rom.   xv.    i.     See  also  Gal.   v.    13-15;   vi.    1-10;   Eph.   iv.,  etc. 


37^       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

each  individual  thus  blessed  shall  be  moved  to 
give  himself  somehow  in  voice  and  loving  minis- 
try to  human  need  ?  If  the  Bible  did  nothing  else 
but  to  inspire  to  such  a  ministry,  it  would  be  well 
worth  all  it  has  cost  the  world.  And  what  no- 
bler element  of  culture  can  come  to  any  man 
than  the  strength  of  character,  the  breadth  of 
view,  the  depth  of  feeling,  and  the  richness  of 
spiritual  experience  which  must  inevitably  result 
from,  such  energetic,  altruistic,  and  reverent 
social  service  as  the  Holy  Scriptures  thus  lead 
him  to  render? 

V.  In  conclusion,  we  must  not  forget  that  the 
culture  which  the  Bible  imparts — the  enlighten- 
ment, refinement,  and  discipline  of  the  human 
spirit — is,  if  the  hope  of  immortality  be  valid, 
the  best  preparation  we  can  have  for  the  Great 
Beyond.  One  does  not  need  to  preach  here,  in 
order  to  enforce  this  truth;  and  although  the  in- 
terest in  the  question  of  a  future  life  may  not  be 
so  keen  today  as  it  has  sometimes  been,  partly 
because  this  present  world  is  more  comfortable 
than  it  used  to  be,  it  is  nevertheless  far  from  be- 
ing "a  negligible  quantity"  for  thoughtful  minds. 
And  the  point  here  insisted  upon  is  simply  that, 
if  we  are  to  live  hereafter,  the  culture  which  the 
Bible  furnishes  is  truly  the  culture  of  eternal 
life.  "We  brought  nothing  into  this  world,  and 
it  is  certain  that  we  can  carry  nothing  out"  ex- 
cept ourselves  and  our  most  vital,  most  personal 


THE  BIBLE  AND  PERSONAL  CULTURE    379 

acquisitions.  "The  fruit  of  the  spirit"  is  the 
only  fruit  which  we  shall  bear  away  from  the 
fields  of  our  earthly  experience.  The  riches  of 
the  soul  are  the  only  enduring  riches.  The  mo- 
ment comes,  soon  or  late,  when  every  man  begins 
to  think  about  these.  Jesus  Christ  sought  to 
confer  his  greatest  benefit  upon  the  individual 
heart  by  helping  it  to  attain  to  "eternal  life" — 
the  life  of  the  eternal  part  of  human  nature.  His 
teaching  and  ministry  in  this  respect  are  full  of 
solemn  significance  to  one  who  tries  to  appre- 
ciate the  true  greatness  of  life,  who  desires  to 
realize  the  blessings  of  true  personal  culture. 
The  cultivation  of  the  heart,  the  enrichment  of 
the  soul  "toward  God,"  the  development  of  the 
love  of  God,  including  the  love  of  all  goodness, 
all  beauty,  all  holiness — this  is  a  kind  of  culture 
that  not  only  crowns  our  present  existence  with 
glory  and  honor,  but  involves  (if  anything  does) 
"the  power  of  an  endless  life."  So  the  Bible,  by 
helping  us  to  gain  this  supreme  wealth,  this 
finest,  purest  spiritual  discipline,  not  only  fits  us 
for  our  best  usefulness  here,  but  (so  far  as  we 
can  see)  gives  us  the  best  preparation  we  can 
have  for  the  unknown  privileges  and  possibilities 
of  the  great,  wonderful  spirit  world.  For  it  is 
written,  "Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard, 
neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  the 
things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that 
love  him." 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  BIBLE  AND  THE  SPREAD  OF  WESTERN 
CIVILIZATION 

There  are  three  principal  spheres  for  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Bible — the  individual,  the  social, 
and  the  universal.  At  least  it  may  promote 
clear  thought  to  distinguish  such  spheres,  al- 
though of  course  they  overlap  one  another  and 
are  interdependent.  The  primary  and  chief  serv- 
ice which  the  Scriptures  render  is  always  a  per- 
sonal one,  consisting  in  the  vital,  spiritual  im- 
provement of  each  man,  woman,  or  child  who 
really  receives  their  great  message.  Their  sec- 
ondary service  is  rendered  to  society  within  the 
immediate  circles  where  they  have  been  long  and 
best  known,  and  consists  in  helping  powerfully 
to  maintain  the  exalted  ideals  and  the  wholesome 
tendencies  of  those  social  institutions  which  have 
grown  up,  in  no  small  degree,  under  their  in- 
spiration. But  beyond  all  this  they  have  a  third 
ministry  to  perform  to  the  vast  world  lying  out- 
side the  boundaries  of  Judaism  and  Christianity, 
and  it  consists  essentially  in  the  moral  and  reli- 
gious illumination  and  purification  of  nearly  a 
thousand  million  human  beings  who  have  not  yet 
been  effectually  reached  by  their  life-giving 
teachings. 

Those  people  who  have  most  thoroughly  ex- 
380 


THE  BIBLE  AND  CIVILIZATION  381 

perienced  the  helpfulness  of  the  Bible  to  the  in- 
dividual soul,  and  those  communities  or  nations 
that  have  most  surely  demonstrated  its  social 
value,  in  contributing  to  the  production  of  the 
beneficent  institutions  of  modern  civilization, 
must  be  the  most  keenly  interested  in  studying 
the  relation  which  this  wonderful  Book  bears  to 
the  extension  of  this  civilization  over  the  face 
of  the  earth.  For  precisely  here  lies  the  greatest 
fact  of  the  present  age,  namely,  that  our  modern 
civilization  is  now  spreading  throughout  the 
world.  Accordingly  it  will  be  highly  profitable 
to  glance  at  the  developments  which  have 
brought  about  the  existing  situation,  so  marvel- 
ous and  so  promising;  to  look  somewhat  closely 
at  the  character  of  the  civilization  referred 
to;  and  then  to  consider  the  peculiar  function 
of  the  Bible  as  a  factor  in  universal  human 
progress. 

I.  The  dominant  note  in  the  public  affairs  of 
the  world  today  is  internationalism.  All  coun- 
tries are  open,  all  races  are  flowing  together, 
travel  and  commerce  extend  everywhere,  and  in- 
tercommunication is  rapid  and  constant.  The 
so-called  Great  Powers  have  been  recently  ex- 
panding, or  striving  to  expand,  in  every  possible 
way — acquiring  control  of  new  regions,  increas- 
ing their  military  and  naval  equipment  on  a 
gigantic  scale,  seeking  likewise  to  increase  their 
wealth,  and  also  augmenting  their  educational 


3&2       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

resources.  While  this  expansion  presents  one  of 
its  most  notable  instances  in  the  case  of  Japan, 
an  oriental  nation,  and  another  striking  example 
in  the  case  of  Russia,  which  may  be  said  to  be 
half  oriental,  it  has  been  mainly  conspicuous  on 
the  part  of  such  western  countries  as  Germany, 
France,  Great  Britain,  and  the  United  States  of 
America.  The  result  is  that  we  now  see  India 
and  Egypt  occupied  and  governed  by  Great  Brit- 
ain; South  Africa  largely  under  her  control,  and 
the  rest  of  the  Dark  Continent  opening  to  Eu- 
ropean colonization;  Australia  and  her  neigh- 
boring islands  growing  in  population,  wealth, 
and  power;  Japan  surprisingly  awakened  to  a 
new  day  and  a  career  of  marvelous  promise; 
China  opened  to  commerce  and  new  industries, 
and  apparently  on  the  eve  of  momentous  devel- 
opments; Russia  pushing  her  interests  eastward, 
inviting  peasant  farmers  to  her  millions  of  acres  of 
agricultural  lands  in  Siberia,  and  just  at  present 
the  scene  of  critical  social  struggles ;  the  American 
Republic  lately  thrust  into  a  larger  sphere  of  in- 
fluence in  the  Far  East  as  well  as  nearer  home, 
and  undoubtedly  destined  henceforth  to  play  a 
more  prominent  part  in  the  drama  of  nations; 
and  South  America  beginning  to  make  her  vast 
resources  known,  and  likely  to  have  increasing 
trade  relations  with  the  Anglo-Saxon  peoples  on 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  How  remarkable  is 
all  this !    What  a  new  face  it  puts  upon  the  world, 


THE  BIBLE  AND  CIVILIZATION  3^3 

as  compared  with  a  century  or  even  a  half-century 
ago!  And  how  untold  are  the  possiblities  which 
it  portends! 

Many  factors  have  contributed  to  these  won- 
derful results.  Scientific  discoveries  and  me- 
chanical inventions  have  been,  without  doubt, 
the  most  effective.  The  mariner's  compass,  gun- 
powder, the  printing  press,  paper,  the  steam  en- 
gine, and  the  electric  telegraph  have  been  the 
principal  agencies  which  have  enabled  the  mod- 
ern man  to  overrun  the  earth,  and  have  pro- 
duced the  varied  and  enormous  material  expan- 
sion of  the  present  era.  The  following  signifi- 
cant facts,  cited  from  a  recent  magazine  article,1 
afford  a  glimpse  of  the  vast  change  which  is  rap- 
idly taking  place : 

One  may  now  go  from  Glasgow  to  Stanley  Falls,  in 
Africa,  in  forty-three  days.  Already  there  are  forty-six 
steamers  on  the  Upper  Congo,  and  the  railroad  running 
northward  from  Cape  Town  is  being  pushed  so  rapidly 
that  the  British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science  has  been  invited  to  meet,  in  1905,  at  Victoria 
Falls.  Within  a  few  years  the  Englishman's  dream  will 
be  realized  in  a  railroad  from  Cairo  to  the  Cape.  Already 
the  distance  is  half  covered.  Uganda  is  reached  by  rail, 
and  sleeping  and  dining  cars  safely  run  the  575  miles 
from  Cairo  to  Khartum,  where,  only  five  years  ago  Kitch- 
ener fought  the  savage  hordes  of  the  Mahdi. 

Japan,  which,  fifty  years  ago,  did  not  own  even  a 
Jinrikisha,  now  has  4,237  miles  of  well  managed  rail- 
road, while  India  is  gridironed  by  25,373  miles  of  steel 
rails,   which   carry   195,000,000  passengers   annually. 

1  Arthur  Judson  Brown,  "The  Opened  World,"  The  American 
Monthly   Review   of   Reviews,    October,    1904. 


384      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

According  to  Walter  J.  Ballard,  the  aggregate  capital 
invested  in  railways  at  the  end  of  1902  was  $36,850,000,000, 
and  the  total  mileage  was  532,500,  distributed  as  follows: 

United    States 202,471  miles 

Europe         180,708       " 

Asia 41,814       " 

South    America 28,654       " 

North  America  (except  United  States)    .     .       24,032       " 

Australia 15*649      " 

Africa I4ii87       " 

Telegraph  lines  belt  the  globe,  enabling  even  the  pro- 
vincial journals   to   print   the   news   of   the   entire   world 

during  the  preceding  twenty-four  hours The  total 

length  of  all  telegraph  lines  in  the  world  is  4,908,921  miles, 
the  nerves  of  our  modern  civilization. 

The  submarine  cables  aggregate  1,751  in  number,  and 
over  200,000  miles  in  length,  and  annually  transmit  more 
than  6,000,000  messages,  annihilating  the  time  and  dis- 
tance which   formerly  separated  nations. 

Commerce  has  taken  swift  and  massive  advantage  of 
these  facilities  for  intercommunication.  Its  ships  whiten 
every  sea.  The  products  of  European  and  American 
manufacture  are  flooding  the  earth.  The  United  States 
Treasury  Bureau  of  Statistics  estimates  that  the  value 
of  the  manufactured  articles  which  enter  into  the  inter- 
national commerce  of  the  world  is  $4,000,000,000,  and  that 
of  this  vast  total  the  United  States  furnished  $400,000,000, 
its  foreign  trade  having  increased  over  100  per  cent, 
since   1895. 

And  these  are  only  a  few  illustrations  of  the  changes 
that  are  taking  place  all  over  the  world.  "The  swift 
ships  of  commerce,"  says  Dr.  Josiah  Strong,  "are  mighty 
shuttles  which  are  weaving  the  nations  together  into  one 
great  web  of  life." 

Other  influences  have  been  at  work  toward 
the  same  grand  end — but  it  must  suffice  merely 
to  mention  them — such  as  curiosity  and  the  love 
of  adventure  and  of  knowledge,  leading  to  ex- 


THE  BIBLE  AND  CIVILIZATION  385 

ploration  and  travel;  philanthropy,  bringing 
about  international  assemblages;  scholarship,  es- 
tablishing worldwide  intellectual  communions; 
literature;  international  politics  and  law;  and, 
last  but  surely  not  least,  religious  devotion  and 
enterprise,  creating  extensive  inter-racial  mis- 
sionary operations. 

Thus  the  world  which  lies  open  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  twentieth  century  is  practically  the 
entire  world,  and  the  mighty  currents  of  our 
western  civilization  are  destined  henceforth  to 
lave  the  shores  of  all  lands.  No  movement  in 
the  whole  history  of  mankind  was  ever  fraught 
with  such  stupendous  possibilities. 

II.  At  this  point  we  may  properly  examine 
the  character  of  our  western  civilization,  now 
brought  to  so  unparalleled  a  juncture.  A  com- 
plete account  of  it  cannot  be  given  in  a  few 
pages,  but  its  most  essential  traits  may  be 
indicated  at  least. 

i.  Of  course  it  is  the  youngest  civilization, 
being  " — heir  of  all  the  ages,  in  the  foremost 
files  of  time."  The  modern  nations  of  western 
Europe,  mainly  of  Teutonic  stock,  together  with 
the  mixed  populations  of  America,  are  still 
youthful  as  compared  with  the  races  of  the  Ori- 
ent. Fifteen  centuries  at  most  comprise  the 
period  of  their  growing  prominence  and  power, 
their  developing  institutions,  their  unfolding 
ideas    and    ideals.      Indeed,    one-third    of    this 


386       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

stretch  of  time  may  be  said  to  cover  all  the  not- 
able, and  therefore  truly  characteristic,  products 
or  manifestations  of  our  strictly  modern  civiliza- 
tion. Back  of  the  age  of  the  Renaissance  it  is 
the  ancient  order,  the  mind  of  antiquity,  that  still 
reigns.  It  is  only  since  the  Renaissance  that 
western  civilization  may  be  properly  said  to  have 
realized  itself  and  to  have  come  to  anything  like 
maturity  and  legitimate  fruitfulness.  This  gen- 
eral fact  shows  how  recent  in  the  world's  history 
are  the  social  and  political  institutions,  the  litera- 
ture and  art,  the  learning  and  educational  enter- 
prise, the  science  and  industry  which  belong 
peculiarly  to  the  Occident  and  which  mark  so 
strikingly  the  present  age. 

Yet,  though  seen  thus  to  be  young,  our  west- 
ern civilization,  in  the  sense  here  spoken  of,  is 
itself  the  product,  in  large  degree,  of  influences 
vastly  older.  That  is  to  say,  it  enjoys  a  rich  her- 
itage from  a  long  past.  The  languages  and  his- 
tories, the  mythologies  and  religions,  the  philos- 
ophies and  laws,  the  arts  and  customs  of  Rome 
and  Greece,  even  of  Egypt  and  Babylon,  and 
most  certainly  of  Israel,  have  contributed  won- 
derfully, both  in  letter  and  in  spirit,  to  the  mold- 
ing of  this  latest-born  type  of  social  life.  Upon 
a  fresh  stock  of  race-material  these  ancient 
grafts  have  been  made,  with  the  happy  result 
that  the  fruits  thus  produced  are  a  blending  of 
the  good  qualities,  with  less  of  the  bad  also,  of 


THE  BIBLE  AND  CIVILIZATION  387 

both  antiquity  and  modernity.  It  is  impossible 
to  separate,  or  always  to  distinguish,  these  var- 
ious commingling  streams  of  influence  flowing 
from  out  the  past  into  the  present ;  but  it  is  cause 
for  profound  gratitude  and  high  hope  that  they 
are  real  and  mighty  forces  in  the  life  of  our  time, 
so  making  our  western  civilization  cumulative  in 
spiritual  wealth  and  power. 

2.  Because  this  civilization  is  young  and  has 
been  so  enriched  by  older  civilizations,  it  is  full 
of  fresh  energy.  It  is  not  stagnant,  it  presents 
no  signs  of  senility,  it  is  rather  surprisingly  alert, 
enterprising,  and  progressive.  It  displays  activ- 
ity everywhere,  with  increasing  intensity — so 
much  so,  indeed,  that  this  aspect  is  often  the  first 
to  strike,  and  not  altogether  favorably,  an  intel- 
ligent visitor  from  the  Orient  in  the  western 
countries.  Said  an  educated  Japanese  to  a  New 
England  college  president  lately :  "Can  we  have 
all  these  material  equipments  and  conveniences 
— your  railroads,  telegraphs,  telephones,  and 
buildings — without  your  American  hurry?" 
Undesirable  as  the  "hurry"  is,  which  must  even- 
tually slow  down,  we  must  recognize  the  fact  that 
it  springs  out  of  certain  racial  endowments, 
doubtless  stimulated,  if  not  generated,  by  cli- 
matic conditions,  which  have  given  strength  and 
achievement  to  the  peoples  that  most  truly 
represent  this  civilization. 

The   native   Teutonic   habit   of  mind,   underlying   the 


388      NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

English,  American,  and  German  character,  represents 
of  necessity,  certain  qualities — tenacity  of  purpose,  deter- 
mination in  the  presence  of  oppostion,  love  for  action,  and 
hunger  for  power,  all  tending  to  express  themselves 
through  the  State — which  were  the  necessary  equipment  of 
that  military  type  which  has  won  in  the  supreme  stress  of 
Natural  Selection  its  right  of  place  as  the  only  type  able 
to  hold  the  stage  of  the  world  in  the  long  epoch  during 
which  the  present  is  destined  to  pass  under  the  control 
of  the  future.2 

The  energy  yielded  by  these  natural  traits — 
"tenacity  of  purpose,  determination  in  the  pres- 
ence of  opposition,  love  for  action,  and  hunger 
for  power" — which  formerly  exercised  itself  in 
military  directions  chiefly,  and  later  in  political, 
is  now  flowing  mainly  in  other  channels, — indus- 
trial, commercial,  educational,  scientific.  The 
result  is  a  rapid  and  enormous  increase  of  popu- 
lation and  wealth.  Mr.  Benjamin  Kidd,  in  the 
work  just  cited,  says: 

During  a  brief  period  of  some  two  hundred  years, 
our  western  world  has  been  transformed.  The  increase 
in  natural  resources,  in  wealth,  in  population,  and  in  the 
distance  which  has  been  placed  between  our  modern  civ- 
ilization and  any  past  condition  of  the  race,  has  been  enor- 
mous. During  the  last  half  of  this  period,  that  is  to  say, 
during  the  nineteenth  century  alone,  while  the  population  of 
the  rest  of  the  world  remained  nearly  stationary,  the  actual 
numbers  of  the  European  peoples  rose  from  170,000,000  to 

500,000,000 These    figures    are    to    be    taken    only 

as  an  index  to  the  stupendous  changes  which  have  taken 
place,  and  which  are  still  in  progress,  beneath  the  surface 
of  life  and  thought  throughout  the  entire  fabric  of  our 
civilization.  It  matters  not  in  what  direction  we  look,  the 
character  of  the  revolution  which  has  been  effected  is  the 

*  Benjamin  Kidd,   Western  Civilisation,  p.  37a. 


THE  BIBLE  AND  CIVILIZATION  389 

same.  In  inventions,  in  commerce,  in  the  arts  of  civilized 
life,  in  most  of  the  theoretical  and  applied  sciences,  and 
in  nearly  every  department  of  investigation  and  research, 
the  progress  of  western  knowledge  and  equipment  during 
the  period  in  question  has  been  striking  beyond  compari- 
son. In  many  directions  it  has  been  so  great  that  it 
undoubtedly  exceeds  in  this  brief  period  the  sum  of  all 
the  previous  advance  made  by  the  race.8 

3.  The  fresh,  abundant  energy  of  our  west- 
ern civilization,  thus  expressing  itself  in  mani- 
fold forms  of  expansion  and  production,  is  sup- 
plemented by  another  characteristic  element  of 
great  value,  namely,  liberality.  It  is  inherently 
democratic,  fraternal,  co-operative.  To  be  sure, 
this  trait  or  tendency  has  not  been  fully  wrought 
out  as  yet;  and  crudeness,  selfishness,  even  vio- 
lence and  oppression,  contradicting  the  claim  of 
liberality,  may  be  all  too  frequently  pointed  out. 
Nevertheless  at  heart  the  whole  western  move- 
ment is  essentially  democratic ;  it  is  a  fruit  of  the 
rising  spirit  of  liberty  in  ever-widening  circles  of 
society ;  and  that  spirit  both  compels  and  concedes, 
in  the  last  analysis,  mutual  tolerance  and  respect. 
It  inspires  the  individual  to  fight,  if  need  be,  for 
his  own  rights;  but  it  makes  him  learn  by  the 
very  exigency  of  the  contest  that  others  also 
have  rights.  And  while  it  is  sadly  true  that  some 
of  the  peoples  who  have  had  most  to  do  in  ex- 
tending western  civilization  into  remote  and  alien 
regions — as  in  India  and  Africa,  for  instance — 
have  exercised  their  power  sometimes  with  a 

8  Western  Civilisation,  pp.  346,  347. 


39©       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

ruthless  disregard  of  the  interests  of  weaker 
races,  so  that  the  march  of  this  civilization  has 
often  been  a  bloody  conquest,  yet  instinctively 
and  on  the  whole  the  advance  has  meant  and 
brought  good  rather  than  evil.  Despite  a  host  of 
facts  which  seem  to  give  the  lie  to  the  assertion, 
the  dominant  ideal  among  English-speaking 
people  is  that  which  embraces  the  great  princi- 
ples of  liberty,  brotherhood,  equality,  co-opera- 
tion. The  ideal  is  far,  very  far,  from  perfect 
realization,  save  perhaps  within  few  and  limited 
circles;  but  it  lives  in  the  souls  of  men,  it 
floats  before  the  whole  western  world,  and  such 
progress  as  is  actually  accomplished  is  in  the 
direction  of  its  further  realization. 

It  is  because  of  the  potency  of  this  ideal,  the 
vital  strength  of  the  democratic  impulse,  grad- 
ually making  itself  felt  throughout  our  western 
civilization,  that  there  has  been  so  remarkable  a 
liberalizing  process  in  the  progress  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  Here  again  Mr.  Kidd's  words 
may  be  fitly  quoted : 

This  vast  advance  has  been  accompanied  by  condi- 
tions of    the  rapid  disintegration  of  all  absolutisms  within 

which  the  human  spirit  had  hitherto  been  confined 

It  has  been  the  age  of  the  unfettering  of  discussion 
and  of  competition;  of  the  enfranchisement  of  the  indi- 
vidual, of  classes,  of  parties,  of  opinions,  of  commerce,  of 
industry,  and  of  thought.  Into  the  resulting  conditions  of 
the  social  order  all  the  forces,  powers,  and  equipments  of 
human  nature  have  been  unloosed.  It  has  been  the  age 
of  the  development  throughout  our  civilization  of  the  con- 


THE  BIBLE  AND  CIVILIZATION  391 

ditions  of  such  rivalry  and  strenuousness,  of  such  con- 
flict and  stress,  as  has  never  prevailed  in  the  world  be- 
fore  It  is  not  into  the  end  but  into  the  beginning 

of  an  era  that  we  have  been  born We  are  living 

in  the  midst  of  a  system  of  things  by  the  side  of  which 
no  other  system  will  in  the  end  survive  as  a  rival  in  the 
world.* 

Here,  then,  we  see  the  three  distinguishing 
characteristics  of  western  civilization,  especially 
as  exhibited  by  the  English-speaking  peoples,  to 
wit:  first,  its  youthfulness,  implying  a  rich  her- 
itage from  the  long  past ;  second,  its  fresh,  abund- 
ant energy,  leading  to  manifold  forms  of  ex- 
pansion and  production;  and,  third,  its  liberal, 
democratic,  fraternal  spirit,  conducing  to  a 
growing  freedom  for  the  individual,  a  growing 
equality  of  conditions  and  opportunities,  an  in- 
creasing sense  of  human  brotherhood,  and  the 
beginning  of  a  worldwide  co-operation  for  se- 
curity, peace,  and  universal  improvement.  Al- 
though the  last-mentioned  quality  may  seem 
somewhat  imaginary  to  many  readers,  and  al- 
though it  is  freely  conceded  to  be  largely  ideal  as 
yet,  nevertheless  it  is  a  very  vital  and  potent 
ideal,  which  will  be  slowly  but  grandly  realized 
as  our  civilization  advances  toward  its  legitimate 
goal.  And  in  considering  so  stupendous  a  move- 
ment as  the  development  and  trend  of  this 
mighty  civilization,  with  particular  reference  to 
its    very    highest    traits,    we    shall    do    well    to 

*  Western  Civilization,  pp.  347~49- 


392       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

ponder    the    words   of    Professor    Franklin    H. 

Giddings : 

Every  nation  that  has  played  an  important  part  in  the 
elevation  of  mankind  from  barbarism  to  enlightenment, 
from  despotism  to  civil  liberty,  from  ruthless  cruelty  to 
compassion  and  fraternity,  has  begun  its  career  with  a 
magnificent  display  of  power,  has  continued  it  in  the  lust 
of  wealth,  has  learned  the  lessons  of  restraint  and  sacri- 
fice, and  at  length  has  come  to  some  appreciation  of  the 
infinite  capacities,  the  immeasurable  potential  value  of 
the  human  soul.  It  has  begun  with  conquest;  but  it  has 
crowned  its  career  with  mercy  and  beneficence.6 

Duly  studying  the  history  and  drift  of  west- 
ern civilization  in  the  light  of  this  remark,  and 
granting  vast  imperfections  and  short-comings 
as  yet  in  the  working-out  of  its  inherent  tenden- 
cies, we  can  scarcely  hesitate  to  agree  with  Pro- 
fessor Giddings  in  his  further  assertion,  that  a 
prominent 

characteristic  of  the  highest  ideal  in  its  modern  form  is 
its  content  of  ardent  and  generous  feeling.  It  desires  the 
widest  opportunity  and  the  highest  attainment,  not 
merely  for  the  few,  but  equally  for  all  classes  and  all 
races.  It  is  vital  with  philanthropic  interest  and  mis- 
sionary earnestness.  It  is  thoroughly  democratic,  and  in- 
cludes an  unbounded  faith  in  the  future  of  the  people.8 

III.  Now  we  are  prepared  to  consider  the  re- 
lation of  the  Bible  to  these  most  significant  facts. 
We  have  seen  that  our  western  civilization  is 
going  out  through  all  the  earth,  and  its  words  to 
the  end  of  the  world ;  and  that  its  three  dominant 

6  In  Democracy  and  Empire  (Macmillan  Co.,  1900),  p.  3x5. 
•  Ibid.,  p.  335.   See  whole  chapter. 


THE  BIBLE  AND  CIVILIZATION  393 

characteristics  are  its  youthfulness,  its  vigor,  and 
its  liberality.  Under  the  figure  of  a  gracious 
queen,  it  may  be  said  that  her  feet  are  wet  with 
the  dew  of  the  morning,  that  her  countenance 
is  radiant  with  the  sunshine  of  a  new  day,  and 
that  her  soul  is  aflame  with  the  essential  spirit  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  How  is  the  Bible 
concerned  in  her  mission  among  the  nations? 

Broadly  speaking,  the  answer  to  this  question 
will  be  found  to  lie  in  the  influence  of  the  Bible 
upon  the  ideals  of  mankind,  just  touched  upon  in 
the  foregoing  paragraphs.  And  here  let  one 
more  word  be  quoted  from  Professor  Giddings: 

The  creation  of  ideals  is  one  of  the  highest  activities 
of  the  human  mind.  Into  his  ideals  enters  man's  estimate 
of  the  past  and  his  forecast  of  the  future;  his  scientific 
analysis,  and  his  poetic  feeling;  his  soberest  judgment, 
and  his  religious  aspiration.  Yet  in  the  growth  of  the 
most  spiritual  ideal,  as  in  that  of  the  humblest  material 
organism,  we  have  a  perfect  illustration  of  the  laws  of 
evolution.  The  ideal,  no  less  than  any  phenomenon  of 
physical  life,  is  a  product  of  ceaseless  transformations 
of  energy,  of  continual  re-groupings  of  things,  of  an  end- 
less  struggle   for   existence This   continuity   of   its 

evolution  is  the  spiritual  thread  of  history;  it  is  the  suc- 
cession and  combination  of  historic  themes Egypt 

and  Babylonia  created  the  national  ideals  of  power  and 
splendor;  Iran  and  Judea  of  ceremonial  righteousness; 
Greece  created  the  ideal  of  citizenship ;  Rome  the  ideal 
of  justice.  England  has  created  the  ideal  of  civil  liberty; 
France  the  ideal  of  social  equality.  America  is  slowly  but 
surely  creating  the  ideal  of  a  broad  and  perfect  equity, 
in  which  liberty  and  equality  shall  for  all  time  be  recon- 
ciled and  combined.7 

7  Democracy  and  Empire,  pp.  339,  340. 


394       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Now  we  may  clearly  perceive  the  specific 
bearings  of  the  great  truth  which  this  chapter  is 
elucidating. 

i.  The  Bible  has  been,  unquestionably,  a 
powerful  instrument  in  the  formation  of  the  best 
ideals  of  our  western  civilization.  It  was  a  large 
factor  in  furnishing  the  ideas  and  in  shaping  the 
policy  of  the  rising  Roman  Catholic  Church  in 
the  early  Middle  Ages;  it  was  the  chief  fountain 
of  inspiration  for  the  Reformers;  and  its  influ- 
ence has  entered  most  vitally,  profoundly,  and 
pervasively  into  the  thought,  faith,  conduct,  and 
social  organization  of  all  Protestant  Christen- 
dom. Its  stamp  can  be  traced,  not  only  upon  re- 
ligious forms,  dogmas,  and  institutions,  but  also 
upon  art,  philosophy,  education,  literature,  law, 
politics,  and  domestic  customs.  It  has  reached 
the  heart  of  our  civilization  as  nothing  else  has 
done,  voicing  its  aspiration,  molding  its  hopes 
and  fears,  and  guiding  its  humanitarian  and  spir- 
itual impulses;  until  we  may  justly  claim  that 
our  very  highest  and  purest  conceptions  of  what 
life  ought  to  be,  for  the  individual  and  for  so- 
ciety, for  the  nation  and  for  the  world,  even  for 
the  present  and  for  the  future,  are  begotten  of 
this  ancient,  mighty,  and  holy  literature. 

2.  No  sane  man,  acquainted  with  the  best 
things  in  our  western  civilization,  can  doubt 
that  the  Bible  will  continue  to  be  one  of  the 
greatest  agencies  available  for  maintaining  our 


THE  BIBLE  AND  CIVILIZATION  395 

noblest  ideals.  Having  been  so  potent  in  their 
formation,  it  will  be  further  potent  in  their  per- 
petuation, albeit  in  modified  ways.  Some  of  the 
dark,  false,  baneful  conceptions  and  influences 
which  have  accompanied  these  ideals  in  the  past, 
drawn  from  or  buttressed  by  the  Bible,  because 
men  have  misunderstood  and.  misapplied  its  con- 
tents, will  fall  away;  but  the  clarified  stream  of 
its  moral  and  religious  power  will  still  flow 
forth  into  the  teeming  life  of  the  modern  age, 
quickening  every  good  impulse  of  the  human 
heart  and  prompting  to  every  good  work.  The 
task  of  adequately  maintaining  thus  all  that  is 
true  and  valuable  in  our  spiritual  life,  appreciat- 
ing our  great  heritage,  our  precious  privileges, 
and  our  solemn  responsibilities,  so  that  the  peo- 
ples of  the  western  world  may  not  retrograde, 
but  may  fulfil  their  sublime  mission  among  the 
nations — this  task  is  most  serious  and  important. 
In  the  words  of  President  Roosevelt : 

In  the  last  analysis  the  work  of  statesmen  and  sol- 
diers, the  work  of  the  public  man,  shall  go  for  nothing 
if  it  is  not  based  on  the  spirit  of  Christianity  working  in 
the  millions  of  homes  throughout  this  country;  so  that 
there  may  be  that  social,  that  spiritual,  that  moral  founda- 
tion without  which  no  country  can  ever  rise  to  permanent 
greatness.  For  material  well-being,  material  prosperity, 
success  in  arts,  in  letters,  great  industrial  triumphs,  all  of 
them,  and  all  of  the  structure  raised  thereon  will  be  as 
evanescent  as  a  dream  if  it  does  not  rest  on  the  righteous- 
ness that  exalteth  a  nation.8 

8  Address  in  Lutheran  Church,  Washington,  D.  C,  January  39, 
1005. 


396       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

Here  is  clearly  indicated,  not  only  one  of  the 
great  functions  of  the  Christian  Church,  but  like- 
wise one  of  the  great  services  of  the  Bible.  For 
the  inculcation  of  righteousness  and  the  Chris- 
tian spirit,  the  Bible  will  continue  to  be,  as  it  has 
been,  the  chief  instrument  wielded  by  the  church. 
In  the  reverent,  ethical,  loving  influence  which  it 
exerts;  in  the  lofty  conceptions  which  it  incul- 
cates; in  the  strength  which  it  imparts;  and  in 
the  insight  which  it  gives,  we  shall  be  enabled, 
if  we  use  it  intelligently  and  lay  to  heart  its  true 
lessons,  to  maintain  the  highest  ideals  and  the 
most  worthy  tendencies  of  our  western  civiliza- 
tion in  the  countries  where  it  has  developed. 

3.  As  this  civilization  spreads  abroad,  in  and 
through  the  people  who  go  into  distant  lands  for 
whatsoever  purpose,  having  dealings  with  other 
nations,  it  must  inevitably  bear,  in  one  way  or 
another,  the  influence  of  the  Bible;  while  more 
and  more,  as  Christian  missions  extend,  the 
Book  itself  will  be  used,  circulated,  and  studied 
among  the  numerous  races  and  kindreds  of  the 
earth.  In  this  vast,  outlying  field  it  will  help  to 
form  the  new  ideals  which  will  slowly  grow  up 
in  the  changing  life  of  such  alien  divisions  of  the 
human  family.  Not  wholly  will  they  accept  it, 
perhaps;  certainly  they  will  put  their  own  inter- 
pretations upon  it,  and  not  ours;  and  undoubt- 
edly its  messages  to  them  will  be  all  the  more 
helpful  when  blended  with,  and  somewhat  mod- 


THE  BIBLE  AND  CIVILIZATION  397 

ified  by,  the  truth  and  beauty  which  have  in- 
hered in  their  forms  of  thought  and  faith.  Nev- 
ertheless it  will  serve  to  give  them  new  and  in- 
spiring conceptions — of  the  fatherhood  of  God, 
of  the  brotherhood  of  man,  of  immortality;  it 
will  quicken  the  sense  of  sin  and  holiness;  it 
will  instil  the  love  of  righteousness  and  peace; 
it  will  emancipate  and  elevate  woman;  it  will 
purify,  dignify  and  sanctify  the  home;  it  will 
make  for  liberty,  equality,  fraternity,  and  lead 
eventually — far  off — to  the  abolition  of  slavery 
and  war.  At  least  it  will  hold  up  the  ideals  of 
such  sublime  attainments  before  the  various  peo- 
ples of  the  earth ;  and  so,  by  degrees,  it  will  teach 
them  to  live  and  labor  for  the  establishment  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  the  universal  reign  of 
righteousness  and  love,  among  the  children  of 
men.  Thus  it  will  tend  to  vitalize  and  spiritual- 
ize the  older  civilizations,  to  overcome  barbarism 
and  savagery,  and  to  lift  human  life  everywhere 
into  the  sunshine  of  divine  love. 

In  order  that  the  Bible,  going  forth  with  our 
western  civilization,  and  in  a  measure  represent- 
ing it,  may  the  more  speedily  render  this  exalted 
service  and  win  its  legitimate  place  of  power,  it 
must  be  commended  and  not  belied  by  the  con- 
duct of  the  people  who  have  been  reared  under 
its  influence.  In  the  commingling  of  races  and 
international  interests  which  is  to  be  the  most 
distinguishing    phenomenon    of    the    immediate 


39^       NEW  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  BIBLE 

future,  intimately  concerning  the  welfare  of  all 
peoples,  great  and  small,  it  is  of  the  very  highest 
importance  that  the  exponents  of  our  western 
civilization,  known  as  Christians  and  educated 
in  the  Bible,  should  be  true  to  their  ideals. 
Nothing  can  more  efficiently  help  them  to  do  this 
than  the  Bible  itself,  while  nothing  can  more 
justly  enable  our  civilization  to  win  its  true 
supremacy  among  the  nations. 

Yet,  in  spite  of  all  delinquencies  in  this  respect, 
"the  word  of  God  standeth  sure."  The  truth  in 
the  Bible,  because  it  is  truth,  may  be  trusted  to 
win  its  way;  likewise  the  truth  about  the  Bible. 
Evil  is  still  powerful  in  our  civilization  and  cen- 
tury, as  it  has  always  been;  human  nature  is  im- 
perfect, and  error  darkens  much  of  our  thought 
and  teaching.  Nevertheless  the  exalted  spiritual 
ideals  of  the  Bible  still  make,  and  will  continue 
to  make,  a  mighty  appeal  to  the  human  soul, 
and  constitute  the  surest  leverage  we  possess 
for  lifting  ourselves  and  the  world  to  a  higher 
plane.  So  we  may  expect  them,  approving 
themselves  to  every  man's  conscience  in  the  sight 
of  God,  to  teach  mankind,  by  degrees,  through 
the  ages,  the  wickedness  and  foolishness  of 
wrong-doing,  the  futility  of  error,  the  wasteful- 
ness of  strife;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  value 
of  the  riches  of  righteousness,  the  beauty  of 
holiness,  the  splendor  of  truth,  the  glory  of  spir- 
itual   freedom,    the    blessedness    of    peace    and 


THE  BIBLE  AND  CIVILIZATION  399 

brotherhood,  and  the  everlasting  worth  of  the 
human  soul  made  in  the  Divine  image  and 
endued  with  "the  power  of  an  endless  life." 

As  we  thus  contemplate  the  vast  field  await- 
ing the  Bible,  the  beneficent  service  which  it  is 
capable  of  rendering,  and  the  facilities  now  af- 
forded for  its  rapidly  increasing  circulation,  we 
are  thrilled  by  the  vision  of  its  marvelous  oppor- 
tunities for  spiritual  usefulness;  and  as  we  re- 
flect that  at  length  it  is  being  emancipated 
from  the  thraldom  of  erroneous  conceptions  of 
its  nature  and  meaning,  and  from  the  constric- 
tion of  false  systems  of  dogma  which  have  often 
surrounded  it,  we  may  rejoice  with  exceeding 
great  joy  to  believe  that  this  ancient  Sacred 
Literature,  far  from  having  finished  its  work, 
is  but  just  entering  upon  its  largest  and  most 
glorious  mission  among  the  nations. 

Word  of  life,  most  pure  and  strong, 
Lo !  for  thee  the  nations  long; 
Spread,  till  from  its  dreary  night 
All  the  world  awakes  to  light. 

Ix>rd  of  all  men,  let  there  be 
Joy  and  strength  to  work  for  thee; 
Let  the  nations  far  and  near 
See  thy  light,  and  learn  thy  fear. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abbot,  Ezra,  on  Fourth  Gos- 
pel,   144. 

Addis,  W.  E.,  Documents  of 
the  Hexateuch,  109,  in, 
291. 

Adeney,  W.  F. :  editor  of 
New-Century  Bible,  46 ;  au- 
thor of  How  to  Read  the 
Bible,  286 ;  Introduction 
by   Bennett   and,    113. 

Adler,  Dr.  Felix,  on  Bible 
and  moral  education,  333. 

Alexandria,  Greek-speaking 
Jews  in,  21. 

American  Standard  Revision, 
44,   45- 

Amos,    Book    of,    99. 

Apocalypse,   the,    125. 

Apocrypha :  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, 97 ;  the  New  Testa- 
ment,   124. 

Appreciation  of  the  Bible: 
The  New,  227  f.;  the  Old, 
232 ;  as  history,  240 ;  as 
literature,  235  ;  as  a  reve- 
lation  of  life,   243. 

Approximate  dates :  of  New 
Testament  books,  table  of, 
by  Bacon,  155 ;  of  Old 
Testament  books  and 
events,    118,    119. 

Arabia,  mention  of,  367. 

Armaic   language,    82,    83. 

Asia  Minor,  scene  of  Paul's 
work,     132-34. 

Assyria,  mention  of,  367. 

Assyrian  overthrow  of  Sa- 
maria,   1 01. 

Astruc,  Jean,  discoverer  of 
twofold  narrative  in  Gen- 
esis,   108. 


Augustine,    mention    of,    158. 

Authority :  defined,  204,  205  ; 
nature  of,  possessed  by 
Bible  and  Christ,  213  f . ; 
of  the  Bible,  chapter  on, 
202  f. ;  objective,  206  f. ;  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  church, 
51;  subjective,  208  f. ;  tra- 
ditional   view    of,    51. 

Authorized  Version,  29,  33, 
37,   38;   294. 

Babylon,   captivity   in,    101. 

Babylonia,    101. 

Bacon,  Professor  B.  W. :  au- 
thor of  Genesis  of  Genesis, 
108 ;  on  anonymity  of  New 
Testament  books,  127 ;  on 
dates  of  New  Testament 
books,  table  from  his  In- 
troduction, 155;  on  the 
Fourth  Gospel,  146 ;  on 
Bible    education,    340. 

Bascom,  Dr.  John,  on  in- 
spiration,   162. 

Batten,  Professor  L.  W.,  re- 
ferred to,    109. 

Bennett  and  Adeney,  au- 
thors of  Introduction,   113. 

Beza  and  Calvin  in  Geneva, 
32. 

Bible,  the:  among  nations, 
398 ;  attitude  of  Catholics 
toward,  34;  authority  of, 
202  f. ;  Bishop's,  the  32 ; 
Cambridge  Companion  to, 
33,  42 ;  cardinal  excellences 
of,  269  f. ;  discrepancies  in, 
165 ;  divine  revelation  in, 
180  f. ;  Genevan,  the,  32; 
the  Great,  31  ;  historical  in- 
formation  regarding,   need- 


403 


404 


INDEX 


ed  in  reading,  287,  288 ; 
how  to  read,  in  modern 
aspects,  284  f ;  increased 
knowledge  of,  leads  to  re- 
ligious quickening,  267, 
268 ;  individual  brought  to 
self-realization  by,  272  f. ; 
influence  of,  not  due  to 
any  particular  theory  about 
it,  266,  267 ;  infallibility 
of,  S3,  54 ;  in  the  home, 
348  f. ;  interpretative  read- 
ings of,  297,  298 ;  Intro- 
duction to,  for  Teachers 
of  Children,  361  ;  in  public 
school,  324 ;  in  relation  to 
personal  culture,  364  f. ;  in 
relation  to  social  service, 
374-77  J  more  interesting 
than  formerly,  355  ;  power 
of,  in  shaping  ideals,  394 ; 
large  and  honorable  place 
of,  3 ;  Messages  of,  45 ; 
Modern  Reader's  45,  297 ; 
plenary  inspiration  of,  53, 
54 ;  progress  of  ideas  in, 
64 ;  service  of,  to  our  own 
time,  265  f. ;  Rheims  and 
Douai,  32 ;  teaching  of,  on 
immortality,  378,  379 ; 
Temple,  The,  46;  and 
spread  of  western  civiliza- 
tion, 380  f. 

Book     of     Common     Prayer, 

psalms    in,    31. 
Books,      ancient      mode      of 

composing,    104,    105. 
Briggs,    Professor   C.    A.,   49, 

83,  86,  89,   no,   in,    145. 
Brinton,  Daniel  G.,  reference, 

170. 
Browning,      Robert,      quoted, 

186. 
Budde,    Professor   Karl,    112; 

Old  Testament  dates  given 

by,    117,    118. 


Burns,    Robert,    quoted,    233, 

234. 
Burton  and  Mathews,  quoted, 

183. 


Caedmon,    27. 

Calvin:  and  Beza  at  Geneva, 
32 ;  on  a  biblical  quotation, 
164. 

Cambridge :  Companion  to 
Bible,  33,  34;  Erasmus 
as  lecturer  at  University 
of,    28. 

Canaan,  date  of  invasion  of, 
100. 

Canon,  19,  98;  New  Testa- 
ment, 20 ;  E.  C.  Moore  on, 
20 ;  Old  Testament,  com 
pleted,   121. 

Captivity:  of  Jews  in  Baby- 
lon, 1 01 ;  "epistles  of," 
136. 

Chaldeans,    mention    of,    103. 

Character,  demand  for,  in 
education,    334. 

Christ,  his  power  over  the 
human    soul,    211. 

Christianity,  distinct  types 
of,  in  New  Testament, 
148  f. 

Chronicles,    Books   of,    114. 

Chronology:  of  New  Testa- 
ment, 130,  155 ;  of  Old 
Testament,    117,    118. 

Civilization,  western,  char- 
acter  of,    385. 

Climate,  effect  of,  on  manu- 
scripts,   74. 

Codex :  Sinaiticus,  24,  40 ; 
Vaticanus,   24,  41. 

Coleridge,  S.  T.,  quoted,  167. 

Cone,  Dr.  Orello,  quoted, 
155. 


INDEX 


405 


Constantine    the    Great,     19; 

ordered  copies  of  Bible,  22. 
Cornill,  Professor  C.  H.,  au- 
thor, 100. 
Council   of  Trent,  decree   of, 

respecting  reading  of  Bible, 

36. 
Coverdale,    Miles,    translator, 

30. 
Cranmer,       31  ',      "Cranmer's 

Bible,"    31. 
Criticism :     development     of, 

87;     higher,     72,     85,     86; 

lower,     72 ;     meaning     of, 

70-72. 
Cromwell,    Thomas,   30. 
Crusades,    mentioned,    28. 
Culture :    definition    of,    365 ; 

Bible  and,   364  f. 
Cyprus,    Paul    and    Barnabas 

visit,    132. 
Cyrus,   90,    1 01. 

Damascus,  Saul  (Paul)  in, 
129. 

Damasus,  Pope,  sanctioned 
Jerome's  work,    23. 

Daniel,   Book   of,    105. 

Deuteronomy,  105,  106,  109, 
no ;  date  of,   in. 

Discrepancies  in   Bible,    165. 

Discrimination,  need  of  in 
using  Bible  in  Sunday 
school,   314. 

Divineness,  traces  of,  in 
universe,   185. 

Divine  revelation  in  Bible, 
53  ;   chapter  on,    180  f. 

Divine  Spirit,  direct  action 
of,  upon  human  spirit, 
195- 

Domestic  worship :  appar- 
ently declining,  352 ;  dif- 
ficulty of  maintaining,  357. 


Driver,    Professor,     104;    oh 

date  of  Deuteronomy,  in; 

on   date  of   Chronicles-Ne- 

hemiah,   114. 
Drummond,     Henry,     quoted, 

327. 
Drummond,  Principal  James : 

reference,    144;    quoted    on 

Fourth   Gospel,    146. 

Ecclesiastes,  99. 

Egypt,    antiquity    of,    247. 

Egyptians,     their     knowledge 

of   writing,    103. 
Eichorn,    108. 
Elohist  -  document    in    Hexa- 

teuch,    109. 
Elohim,  name  for  Deity,  108. 
Erasmus  :   at  Cambridge,   28  ; 

his    Greek   Testament   pub- 
lished,  28   note. 
Excellences     of     the      Bible, 

269  f. 
Europe,    races   making,    249. 
Exodus  from  Egypt,  date  of, 

100. 
Expansion,  factors  producing, 

383. 
Expansion    of    great    powers, 

recent,    381,    382. 

Farrar,  Archdeacon,  quoted 
on    inspiration,    160  f. 

Fisher,  Professor  G.  P.,  ref- 
erence,   50. 

Fowler,  Professor  H.  T., 
quoted,  342. 

Fourth  Gospel,  92,  123,  139, 
148  f. 

Froude,  James  Anthony,  on 
Erasmus,    28. 

Genesis,  distinct  accounts  of 
creation  in  Book  of,   108. 


406 


INDEX 


Genesis    of    Genesis,    by    B. 

W.    Bacon,    reference,    108. 
Genesis  of  Social  Conscience, 

by      H.      S.      Nash,      258; 

quoted,   327,  328. 
Gesta  Christi,  by  C.  L.  Brace, 

254;    quoted,   255. 
Giddings,    Professor    F.    H., 

quoted,    392,     393. 
Gilbert,      Professor     G.      H., 

reference,    155. 
Gospels:   dates  of,   142,    155; 

composite  nature  of,    138  f. 
Greece,    mention    of,     102. 

Hagiographa,    121. 

Hamburg,    30. 

Harnack,  Professor  Adolf, 
So. 

Hebrew   language,    82. 

Hebrew  race,  spiritual  prog- 
ress   of,    198. 

Hebrews,  type  of  Christian- 
ity in  Epistle  to  the,  150  f. 

Henson,  Canon  Henley, 
quoted,    280. 

Hermann,  Professor  Wil- 
helm,  quoted,  219,  220. 

Hexateuch,  107,  109,  no, 
in;  analysis  of,  not  per- 
fect,   116. 

History,  deeper  always  spir- 
itual,  264. 

Home:  the  Bible  in,  chapter 
on,  348  f. ;  educational 
function  of,  350 ;  field  for 
cultivation  by  churches, 
357,  358,  363;  importance 
of,  from  sociological  point 
of  view,   349. 

Hosea,  Book  of,  mentioned, 
99. 

Ilgen,  early  critic,   108. 


Individual,  brought  to  him- 
self by  Bible,   272  f. 

Ingersoll,   Robert  G.,   67. 

Inspiration  of  the  Bible : 
chapter  on,  156  f . ;  effects 
of  true  view  of,  175  f . ; 
position  of  Lutheran 
church  in  relation  to,  158; 
views  of  Christian  Fathers 
on,  157;  views  of  Luther 
on,    158. 

Internationalism  a  dominant 
note   at  present,   381. 

Interpreters,  beware  of  seem- 
ingly   infallible,    296. 

Introduction,  need  of,  to 
study  of  Bible,  69,  286. 

Introduction  to  Bible,  by  Ben- 
nett   and    Adeney,    113. 

Introduction  to  Bible  for 
Teachers  of  Children,  by 
Georgia  Louise  Ghamber- 
lin,    361. 

Isaiah,  Book  of,  88,  90 ;  99. 

Israel,   kingdom   of,    101. 

Israelites,    history    of,    100. 

Jackson,  A.  W.,  reference 
and  quotation,   196. 

Jamnia,  Old  Testament  Can- 
on   completed    at,    113. 

Jehovah  (Yahweh),  term  in 
Genesis   for   Deity,    108. 

Jehovistic  document  in  Hexa- 
teuch,   109. 

Jerome,  61,  88,   158. 

Josephus,    129. 

Joshua,  Book  of,  107. 

Judah,   kingdom   of,    101. 

Judges,  Book  of,  113. 

Julicher,  references,  74,  75, 
76,    124. 

Justin  Martyr,  144. 


INDEX 


407 


Kent,  Professor  C.  F.,  99, 
109,   in,   291,   295. 

Kent  and  Sanders,  authors, 
99,    295. 

Kenyon,  Frederick  G.,  on 
manuscripts,  22,  26,  38, 
74,   76,    77- 

Kidd,  Benjamin,  quoted,  388, 
389,  390,  39i. 

King,  President  H.  C,  quot- 
ed,   199. 

Kings,  Books  of,  114. 

Ladd,  Professor  G.  T.,  quot- 
ed,  86,    143. 

Logia   by   Matthew,    141. 

Logos  doctrine,  in  Ephesus, 
144 ;  see  Fourth  Gospel. 

Lowell,  J.  R.,  quoted,  189. 

Luther,  28,  29 ;  on  inspira- 
tion,   158. 

Mabie,   H.   W.,  quoted,   237. 
Manuscripts,   39,  40 ;   number 

known,    79. 
Martineau,    Dr.    James,    145, 

188,    197. 
Masoretes,    58,    84. 
Material      nature,      what      it 

reveals,    190. 
McFadyen,     Professor     John 

E. :   reference,   1 1 1  ;  quoted 

at  length   on   dates   of   Old 

Testament        events        and 

books,   118,   119. 
Messianic   hope,    102. 
Micah,    Book   of,    99. 
Moabite    Stone,    83. 
Monks,  as  transcribers,  25. 
Moody,  D.  L.}  48,  49. 
Moore,    Professor    E.    C,    20, 

So. 
Moore,  Professor  G.  F.,   108. 


Moral    culture,    Bible    means 

of,    333. 
Moses,  100,  103,  106,  112. 
Moulton,     Professor     R.     G., 

quoted,   238,   239. 
Munger,  Dr.  T.  T.,  237. 

Nash,    Professor    H.    S.,    69, 

70,   72,   86,   87,   89 ;   quoted 

at    length,    258. 
Nestle,  Professor  E.,  80  note. 
New    Testament:    chapter   on 

New      View      of,       120  f. ; 

period  covered  by,    123. 
Nicene    Creed,    date    of    the 

adoption    of,    19. 

Old  Testament:  chapter  on 
New  View  of,  95  f- ;  as 
literature,  96 ;  dates  com- 
prising, 118,  119;  the 
voice  of  a  people,   117. 

Opened  World,  The,  article 
on,  quoted,   383,   384. 

Origen,    65,    88,    158. 

Papyrus:  material,  21;  rolls, 
23 ;  perishable,  74 ;  super- 
seded,   74. 

Parchment,    22,    26. 

Parker,  Theodore,  quoted, 
156. 

Paul,  dates  of  epistles  of, 
131,    135- 

Paul's  life,  chronology  of, 
129,    130. 

Paul's  missionary  journeys, 
129. 

Pentateuch,  the,  99,  105,  106, 
107,  108. 

Persia,    mention    of,    102. 

Philo,     120. 

Priestly  Code  in  Hexateuch, 
109. 


4o8 


INDEX 


Priestly  period  of  Jewish 
history,    102. 

Printing :  invention  of,  28 ; 
effect  of,  on  text,  52. 

Private    judgment,    217-21. 

Proof-texts,  old-fashioned  use 
of,    not   valid,    65. 

Protestant  Reformation,  27, 
5i. 

Proverbs,   the,    99,    115. 

Psalms,   the,   99,   115. 

Public  school :  chapter  on 
Bible  in,  324  f. ;  criticism 
of,  as  "godless,"  unjust, 
326,  345 ;  legal  situation 
respecting  Bible  in,  330, 
331  ;  proper  function  of, 
in  popular  education,  346 ; 
possible  advance  regarding 
Bible   in,   335,   336. 

Puritan  spirit  and  domestic 
worship,    352. 

Quotations  from  New  Testa- 
ment in  early  Christian 
writings,    79. 

Race   endowment,  in   relation 

to    revelation,     193,     194. 
Reuss,    Professor   E.    W.    E. : 

reference,    25 ;    quoted,    29. 
Revelation:    chapter    on    The 

Divine,  in  the  Bible,  180  f. ; 

limited   by   man's    capacity, 

187. 
Revised   Version,    42,    43. 
Reynolds,    Dr.,    and    English 

versions,    32. 

Samaria,    fall    of,    101. 

Samaritan    Pentateuch,    83. 

Samuel,   Books  of,    113. 

Sanday,  Dr.  William:  on 
Fourth  Gospel,  146;  on  in- 
spiration, 182. 


Saul   of  Tarsus,    128. 

Separation  of  Church  and 
State,   327  f. 

Shairp,  Principal  J.  C, 
quoted  on  culture,  365, 
366. 

Smith,  Professor  George 
Adam,    108. 

Smith,  Professor  W.  Robert- 
son, 86,   104,    105. 

Septuagint,   the,   85,    105. 

Sheldon,  Walter  L.,  296,  333  ; 
quoted,    370. 

Significant  events  since  Bible 
was    written,    300. 

Spiritual  life,  exalted  type 
of,  revealed  in  Bible,  244. 

Spiritual  Outlook,  The,  by 
Selleck,    reference,    251. 

Spiritual  progress :  actual, 
250  f. ;  chapter  on  The 
Bible   and,    247  f. 

Spiritualization  of  religion 
promoted    by    Bible,    260  f. 

Strong,  Dr.  Josiah,  quoted, 
384. 

Sunday  school :  chapter  on 
Bible  in,  310  f . ;  child  chief 
object  in,  307 ;  end  sought 
in,  302 ;  inadequacy  of, 
304;  principles  for  true 
use  of  Bible  in,  307  f. 

Syria,  mention  of,   102. 

Syriac  Version,  85. 

Talmud,  82,  84. 

Tatian,     144. 

Taverner,    Richard,    31. 

Teacher,  function  of,  in  Sun- 
day  school,    321. 

Temple  Bible,   The,   46,    127. 

Text:  causes  of  corruptions 
in,  83  ;  correction  of  errors 


INDEX 


409 


in,  85  ;  errors  in,  of  New 
Testament  not  sufficient 
seriously  to  affect  main 
teachings,  81,  82;  im- 
provements in,  of  New 
Testament,    81. 

Teutonic :  habit  of  mind, 
387,  388 ;  tribes,   103. 

Textual  criticism,  79,  80,  81. 

Tholuck,  Dr.  F.  A.  D.,  on  in- 
spiration, 159,  160,  163, 
218. 

Thurber,  Dr.  Charles  H.,  on 
laws  regarding  Bible  in 
public  school,  330,  331. 

Tischendorf,  his  discovery  of 
manuscripts,    40,    41. 

Tolstoy,  Count:  quoted,  281; 
his  indictment  not  valid 
against  true  view  of  Bible, 
281. 

Torah,  the,  no. 

Toy,  Professor  C.  H.,  100, 
114. 

Translations  of  Bible  into 
European  dialects,  25,  26 ; 
profitable  to  read  various, 
244. 

Twentieth-Century  New  Tes- 
tament,   The    45. 

Tyndale,      William,      martyr, 


his  great  labors  to  produce 
English  version,  29,  30,  35. 

Van  Dyke,  Henry,  quoted  on 

Christ's    teaching,     200. 
Variations,      causes      of,      in 

text,    73-77- 
Veneration  for  Bible  a  source 

of   doctrine   of  infallibility, 

56,    59. 
Votaw,    Professor    Clyde   W., 

on   Sermon  on  the  Mount, 

140   note. 
Vulgate,   the,   23,   85. 

Wendt,  alluded  to  on  Fourth 

Gospel,    145. 
Westcott,    reference   on    New 

Testament  chronology,   124. 
Wisdom    literature,    115. 
Worms,    Luther    at,    30. 
Writing,  art  of,  102,  103. 
Writing     of     books,     ancient 

mode  of,   75,   76. 
Wyckliffe,       early        English 

translation,  27. 

Ximenes,  Cardinal,  52. 

Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation,   7. 

Young  Women's  Christian 
Association,   7. 


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